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The U.S. military is looking to add information operations and the defense of the internet as part of its core focus, according to the recently declassified “Information Operations Roadmap,” a document prepared by the Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld. The 78-page document, reported by BBC News, and found on Dark Reading, was uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

This document gives a good glimpse into how the military views information operations and the internet, and the fact that they deem it of national importance to dominate the World Wide Web. This also relates to the modernization of the military and how they see information as a military asset.

A major theme in within the paper is the need to “Fight the Net,” treating the internet as if it were a “enemy weapons system.” The doc also hints at potential “offensive cyber tools” along with integrated weapons system, but most of that section was deemed classified and blacked out.

Sean Kelly, business technology consultant with Consilium1, says the "fight the net" campaign is the wrong approach. "I agree that our Defense Department needs to have strong security strategies for defending our information systems -- especially intelligence databases, as well as key communications channels," Kelly says. "I would hope that our Defense Department would employ some of the best and brightest network security professionals to develop a strategy that identifies and protects -- through monitoring and taking action where necessary, [a] good old fashioned incident response program -- high-risk areas of its own networks as well as on the Internet."

Another key focus of the document was the need to control the electromagnetic spectrum. "To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities," according to the document.

While Mr. Kelly says the Defense Department should take a more collaborative approach with other nations to identify threats and develop a plan address known vulnerabilities, as a New Yorker, I’ll always remember that the Fire Departments’ communication system, and the loss of it that day, likely contributed to the loss of so many of New York’s bravest. In an actual war, controlling communications would clearly be key.

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