Establishing Cyber Warfare Doctrine

Over the past several decades, advances in technology have transformed communications and the ability to acquire, disseminate, and utilize information in a range of environments. Modern societies and their respective militaries have taken advantage of a robust information space through networkcentric systems. Because military and commercial operations have increasingly converged, communication and information infrastructures are now high-priority military objectives in times of war. This article examines the theoretical underpinning of current cyber warfare research, what we have learned so far about its application, and some of the emerging themes to be considered; it also postulates the development of a (national) cyber warfare doctrine (CWD). An endeavor of this scale requires lots of considerations and preparation for its development if it is to be cooperatively embraced. This article considers why information technology systems and their supporting infrastructures should be considered legitimate military targets in conflicts, and offers several events that support this supposition. In addition, it identifies the various forms of doctrine that will become the basis for developing a CWD, discusses a CWD's possible components, and proposes a national collaborative and discussion framework for obtaining a nation's stakeholder buy-in for such an endeavor. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol5/iss1/7 Journal of Strategic Security Volume 5 Issue 1 2012, pp. 31-48 DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.5.1.3 Journal of Strategic Security (c) 2012 ISSN: 1944-0464 eISSN: 1944-0472 31 Establishing Cyber Warfare Doctrine Andrew Colarik and Lech Janczewski Independent Consultant and University of Auckland