Two illustrious names, R. James Woosley and Peter Vincent
Pry write an article in their field of expertise, and right from the start, you
wonder on what planet these two have been living during the past few years.
Woosley was director of central intelligence. Vincent Pry is
now executive director of the EMP Task Force; also served in the Congressional
EMP Commission and the CIA. They ask: “Will Infrastructure Sabotage Be the Next
Pearl Harbor?” which happens to be the title of the article they wrote. It was
published on January 9, 2016 in National Review Online.
Either they don't know the history of their country or they
have been living on another planet or they were in a cryogenic state for
something like a decade or two. Their question relates to potential attacks in
the context of cyber warfare, aggressions they equate with the air attack that
took place on Pear
Harbor Iran by America ; a criminal act of war
committed for the benefit of the Jews and the Israelis.
Because America
opened the barn door for the horses to get out, Woosley, Pry and all those who
wish to speak in its behalf on that subject must, from here on, have the
decency to acknowledge those realities and apologize. This done, they should
try to connect the dots that lead to a useful outcome instead of tracing lines
on a map that bears no resemblance to the world in which we live.
Perhaps someone could also explain to Woosley and Pry that
Pearl Harbor was a treacherous act carried out at a time when peace talks were
about to start between the United States and Japan. This is why the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed “shall live in infamy.” To come
now and suggest that if the Iranians retaliated in self-defense against the
cyber attack on them – they would be committing a treachery similar to Pearl
Harbor, is to say that America
provoked Japan ,
and that the latter was only responding in self defense.
But how could two men of that caliber make a mistake of this
magnitude? The answer is that they started with the wrong frame of mind. Here
it is: “Revolutions in warfare are often unnoticed by governments and their
military establishments – until it is too late.” Even if we forgive them
omitting from the discussion Iran ,
and the events that preceded Pearl Harbor , how
could they have forgotten the fact that one of them is currently the executive
director of the EMP Task Force, and that he served in the Congressional EMP
Commission and the CIA? Is the Congress not a branch of the government they say
has not noticed the new revolution in warfare?
Blinded by ignorance or by choice, Woosley and Pry go on to articulate
their thesis by discussing historical events that matter very little to the
problems they are warning against, and by expressing opinions that happen to be
common wisdom already in the public domain. Thus, from the naval Battle of
Taranto which took place on November 11, 1940, they draw a lesson that ties
that battle to the alleged cyber attack which took place on December 23, 2015
on the power grid of Western Ukraine, and the apparent attack which took place
on March 31, 2015 on the power grid of Turkey .
To make it sound like they said something important, they
added the following to the mix: “China ,
North Korea , Iran and
terrorists are also experimenting with cyber-warfare revolution, while the
Unites States is befuddled.” Befuddled? How and why America is befuddled … Jim? Peter?
And so, having accused America of that thing, they now ask
the question: “What is to be done?” and they volunteer an answer. But guess
what ... the answer they give is something that the “befuddled” government of America knows
too well and is doing something about. Here it is:
“The U.S must develop offensive cyber-warfare capabilities …
It must develop new doctrine to use military force to deter and retaliate
against rogue states and non-state actors … The U.S. must harden its electric
grid and other infrastructures against nuclear EMP attack beginning with the
passage of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act awaiting action in the
Senate … The defense Department must do everything to support the reestablished
Congressional EMP Commission.”