Vulnerability

Most powerful, most vulnerable, fear to initiate escalation.



I would add the special susceptibility to asymmetry

Amplify’d from www.foreignpolicy.com

If cyberwar is such a threat, why is the Pentagon doing so little to prepare for it?

Last month, while reviewing his career a few days before retirement, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen discussed what he sees are the two "existential" threats facing the United States. After nuclear weapons, Mullen listed cyberattacks, which, he said, "actually can bring us to our knees."

But a more important argument against a cyberattack was the desire to avoid setting a precedent that other adversaries could later exploit against the United States. Similarly, the U.S. government considered hacking Osama bin Laden's bank accounts but refrained because officials feared that such an attack could cause investors to lose faith in the safeguards underpinning the global financial system. The common theme is that the United States, including its military forces, is among the heaviest users of computer networks and thus has the strongest incentive to avoid escalating combat in this domain. Read more at www.foreignpolicy.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/rsALDa