Pentagon Declares Cyber Combat An Act of War

05-31-2011 • online.wsj.com

The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force. The Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country's military. In part, the Pentagon intends its plan as a warning to potential adversaries of the consequences of attacking the U.S. in this way. "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks," said a military official. Recent attacks on the Pentagon's own systems—as well as the sabotaging of Iran's nuclear program via the Stuxnet computer worm—have given new urgency to U.S. efforts to develop a more formalized approach to cyber attacks.

3 Comments in Response to Pentagon Declares Cyber Combat An Act of War

Comment by tittiger

Entered on: 5/31/2011 8:00:02 PM

What a great idea.... Now we can declare war on any country and there is less evidence that the whole damn thing was fabricated like almost every war we have been in.

Comment by tittiger

Entered on: 5/31/2011 7:58:06 PM

I guess then we can expect Iran to rightfully declare war on this idiotic country any day now.

Comment by Trouser Chili

Entered on: 5/31/2011 3:33:03 PM

"The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war" except when they do it, i.e. Stuxnet.

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