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So there is an easy solution to the hellbent destruction of the Axis of Evil…
North Korea and Iran are sworn to the destruction of the U.S. and it’s allies.
Repeatedly, they sponsor global terrorism, abuse human rights, violate agreements against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, conduct nuke tests, and missile launches.
Instead of destroying the missiles immediately upon launch or on the launchpad, which is a nice start…
Let’s just do this:
– When North Korea launches, let’s redirect the guidance system on the missile to Tehran.
– And when Iran launches their missiles, let’s redirect it toward Pyongyang.
We don’t have to fire a single volley.
Let the evil ones destroy each other and have a gangbusters time doing it. 😉
There are big deadly weapons to worry about, such as weapons of mass destruction that come on an ICBM or even in a suitcase bomb to frightening armies of massive killer robots.
And then there are small nanobot weapons to worry about–which don’t sound like much, but they could be the ultimate killer machines.
About 10 nanometers make up the width of a human hair, so we are talking about microscopic or bug size weaponized drones.
Nanobots can be manufactured or scarily can be self-replicating.
They can fly alone or in massive swarms.
They can surreptitiously enter/exit and carry out their missions virtually undetected.
Whether surveillance or delivering a mini-nuke or a toxin.
Nanobots could function like a biological weapon killing millions–targeted or indiscriminately.
Soon wars will not be fought by people any longer–by rather by robots and nanobots.
People are too fragile for fighting and war against ruggedized and militarized bots that are designed for one purpose only…to kill, kill, kill.
Terminators are coming–from massive to nanoscale–and mere humans will be dogmeat to these killing machines.
Add in a cyber warfare component that will turn off 21st century civilization leaving us to fend as if we were back in the stone ages, and overpopulation is the last and funniest joke any of us will ever tell.
You can see the Capitol of the United States in the background.
The gate is surrounding the construction being done.
On the fence is a Teddy Bear–representing so many of our national challenges–sort of just hanging there helpless.
This political bear looks like he’s clutching for dear life, but unfortunately he is left hung out to dry as we just keep chugging away…but where is the real progress?
This doesn’t mean that good things aren’t continuing to happen especially with innovation despite all the gridlock…there is the Apple Watch (ok, the jury is still out on that one too).
This video is a wake up call on the state of our national cyber insecurity.
It is the opening statement (about 6 minutes) of Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of Oversight, Investigations, and Management.
What he describes is quite grave and every American should listen carefully about the state of our cyber insecurity that poses a real and significant threat to our economy and national security.
We are under attack by cyber criminals, terrorists, and hostile nation states.
Our adversaries seek to and can paralyze our critical infrastructure, steal our intellectual property, conduct espionage, and access our personal and financial information.
The collapse of our military networks, financial system, energy, transportation, and electricity “is not science fiction.”
The cyber attacks are “real, stealth, and persistent, and can devastate our nation.”
It is “not a matter of if, but when a Cyber Pearl Harbor will occur.”
And “we have been fortunate that up until this point that cyber attacks on our country have not caused a cataclysmic event.”
I read from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (2011) that cybersecurity has taken a back seat after 9/11 to the War on Terror as well as the economic fight after the recession of 2008, with the result that “the United States is unprepared to defend itself.”
Chairman McCaul critically states at the end of his opening statement, “Let’s do something meaningful [now] because it is not a tolerable situation!”
We “need to learn ever new technology skills and simultaneously retain, old tried and true, core survival and self-sufficiency.”
This is a serious topic, and there will come a time when the lights go out and those who blend old and new skills will survive, while unfortunately, others who don’t, will not.
Hope you enjoy the article.
Andy
(Source Photo: here with attribution to U.S. Army Africa)
Interesting article by Noah Shachtman in Wired about how the Pentagon is gearing up for cyberwar.
It’s called Plan X and it’s being pursued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The idea is for cyber warfare to be conducted like traditional kinetic warfare–where “munitions made of 1s and 0s [are] to be as a simple to launch as ones made of metal and explosives.”
Cyberspace is considered a domain of warfare similar to land, sea, air, and space, and it is necessary to be able to craft offensive capabilities where “a military operator can design and deploy a cyber effect, know what it’s going to accomplish…and take the appropriate level of action.”
We can’t fly by the seat of our pants in cyberspace any longer; we’ve got to have turnkey solutions ready to launch in order to defend our people and interests.
To accomplish this, we need:
1) Surveillance: A good map of cyberspace detailing enemy cyber outposts and threats akin to the geographical maps we have identifying physical targets and dangerous movements.
2) Weapons: Reliable cyber weapons ready to take on and take out enemy networks similar to kinetic weapons ready to destroy their military hardware and infrastructure.
3) Launch protocols: The rules of engagement for attack and counterattack and the ability to intuitively and securely unleash those even faster then the turnkey capabilities with which we can respond with traditional military might.
Whether, the cyber weapon looks like Angry Birds or some other point (at the target) and swipe (to launch at them) interface is almost beside the point–what is key is that we are ready to fight like hell in cyberspace, win uncontested, and keep the peace again. 😉
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Great Beyond)
In you haven’t heard of Project Aurora, this is a wonderful segment from 60 Minutes on this cyberwar project.
Faced with some of the worst case scenarios for cybergeddon, Idaho National Labs set out in 2007 to test what would happen to a 27-ton power generator if the researchers hacked into it from a mere laptop.
The turbine was sent instructions that would essentially tear itself apart–and in the video you can see what happened–it shudders, shakes, smokes, and ultimately destroys itself.
The test was a grand success demonstrating our capabilities to conduct cyberwar operations against an adversary.
Interestingly, Reuters reported the Symantec researchers “uncovered a version of Stuxnet from the end of 2007 that was used to destroy two years later about 1,000 Iranian centrifuges used in their Natanz nuclear uranium enrichment facility for alleged development of weapons of mass destruction.
The flip side of this cyberwar test is the realization of the potential blowback risk of cyberweapons–where adversaries can use similar technology over the Internet against our critical infrastructure–such as SCADA industrial control systems for the power grid, water treatment, manufacturing, and more–and cause potentially catastrophic events.
As stated toward the end of the video, this is a type of “pre 9/11 moment” where we identify a serious threat and our vulnerability and we need to act to prevent it–the question is will we?
So I am back in school AGAIN (I’m a life-long learner), augmenting my not so slow-paced job.
Let’s just say that at this point, I recognize that the more I know, the more I don’t know anything.
The class that I am taking now is Cyberlaw, and while I did take law in business school–many moons ago–that was more focused on contracts and business organizations.
This class looks interesting from the perspective of the legal and regulatory structure to deal with and fight cybercrime, -terrorism, and -war.
One interesting thing that I already learned was a technique for evaluating legal cases called IRAC, which stands for:
– Issues–the underlying legal matters that the case is addressing.
– Rules–what legal precedents can be applied.
– Analysis–whether those rules apply or not, in this case.
– Conclusion–rendering an opinion on the case.
This is a structured way to analyze any legal case.
Of course, before you do these, you have to look at the facts–so that is the very first section.
The problem with that is then you have F-IRAC and that can definitely be taken the wrong way. 😉
Unbelievable. The Halo Counter-terrorism Summit (Oct 29-Nov. 2, 2012) is hosting a mock Zombie Invasion as part of its emergency response training for about a 1,000 special ops, military, police, medical, firefighter, and other homeland security professionals.
The Zombie Apocalypse training exercise is occurring mid-summit on October 31, Halloween–so it is quite timely for other ghoulish activities that day.
There are two sessions–#1 at 4:30 PM and #2 at 7:00 PM.
Both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have posted the CDC’s Zombie Preparedness guidance–saying that “if you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.”
I guess this is very good news with Hurricane Sandy or “Frakenstorm” bearing down on the East Coast this evening. Zombies, you ain’t got nothing on Frakenstorm!
In Yahoo News, Brad Barker, the President of Halo Corp., explained why Zombies are good for training, especially in asymmetric warfare: “No one knows what zombies will do in our scenario, but quite frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do.”
Barker also jested that “No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it’s going to be a federal incident, so we’re making it happen.”
Frankly, I love to see this type of creativity brought to national and homeland security and believe that this makes it less likely that we’ll be perpetually fighting yesterday’s war, instead of tomorrow’s.
The key is that we think out of the box in terms of what will the adversary do next–from cyberwar to weapons of mass destruction, we can’t afford to be blindsighted.
So do I think that aliens or zombies are coming for us some day–let’s just say, never say never. 😉
andyblumenthal