http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17008 By Doug Mohney 05 July 2004 OVER THE PAST month, U.S. Air Force briefers have been unveiling capabilities and strategies to wargeek pubs like Jane's and Aviation Week for "Information Operations", a term that encompasses computer network attack and defense together with more "traditional" electronic warfare activities and psychological warfare (psyops). IO is a relatively new invention recently applied to Iraq last year during the effort to oust Saddam Hussein. One success touted by a senior AF general was a combination of psyops leaflets dropped by airplanes together with e-mail pumped into the Iraqi military's computer network to dissuade Iraqi troops from fighting. IO operations was likely one of the main reasons Tom Clancy fans didn't see the use of the much-anticipated EMP bomb, a weapon designed to generate to disrupt (scramble) or destroy (fry) electronics with a burst of microwaves. Future IO missions are expected to e integrated to the existing range of "kinetic solutions" (i.e. dropping a 2,000 lb bomb) in a seamless set of solutions. Another capability the AF would like to de-classify is the ability to turn anti-aircraft missiles stupid, making them miss aircraft without bombs. "I look forward to the day when we can convince a surface-to-air missile that it is a Maytag in a rinse cycle," said General Hal Hornburg in an interview with Aviation Week. The capability is available in the computer network attack toolbox to penetrate and manipulate another military's communications network. Declassifying the capability would make it quicker to implement into future operations. Classified exercises have demonstrated the Air Force's ability to enter into an enemy's air defense computer network, see and monitor what the enemy radars could detect in real time, and the ability to take over the network as a systems administrator and start manipulating radars. Currently, this capability has been demonstrated on the EC-130 Compass Call aircraft, a slow 4 engine cargo plane loaded with electronic gear, but the Air Force has jawed up the ability of this mission to be taken up by the much more sexy and expensive F/A-22 fighter aircraft. Air Force computer network defence also falls under the IO mission. During Iraqi operations, Air Force defenders took such steps as blocking out chunks of Internet addresses known to be used by overseas hackers for attacks. Commanders are concerned hackers will pass through a U.S. Internet Service Provider to launch attacks, using the ISP as a legal shield. Under American law, the military is precluded from operating against U.S. civilian interests, so civilian law enforcement must be called in to investigate and take action. Needless to say, this takes time and bureaucracy. In the future, the Air Force would like to see the creation of a hot-pursuit capability that would allow them to go after attackers regardless of where they are coming from. _________________________________________ Help InfoSec News with a donation: http://www.c4i.org/donation.html
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