July 29, 2006...9:52 pm

4GW: Network warfare. Do networks neutralize traditional military might?

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“We are now into the first great war between nations and networks,” said John Arquilla, a professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a leading analyst of net warfare. “This proves the growing strength of networks as a threat to American national security.”

In a talk that Mr. Arquilla calls Net Warfare 101, he describes how traditional militaries are organized in a strict hierarchy, from generals down to privates. In contrast, networks flatten the command structure. They are distributed, dispersed, agile, mobile, improvisational. This makes them effective, and hard to track and target.

Read this article from the New York Times. More on the topic from MetaFilter.

ALSO: War in the Information Age from the LA Times. “In a 24/7 world, the U.S. isn’t keeping up with its enemies in the communication battle.”

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