NCJ Number
190998
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This essay focuses on resilience and vulnerability in the information age.
Abstract
The case of Bosnia illustrates a point that ties the security implications of the information revolution together with the implications of other revolutions that modern society has produced. The citizens of Sarajevo lived for years in a society that was not unlike the United States. However, it was not at all resilient because its multi-ethnic tolerance and sophisticated cultures were covering some ancient hatred that was easily preyed upon by a demagogue. In this it may well have been more vulnerable than most societies. The modern evolving world of massive information flow and interdependency is increasingly mirrored in the slower flow and interdependency of all goods and services. The key point is that this interdependency also increases the ability of those bent on destruction to disconnect the many aspects that make society work. The toughest problem foreseen in the United States is an encounter with a small, dedicated, group that may be well financed but perhaps not wholly controlled by a nation-state. Such terrorist groups are the most dangerous threat to the information networks and to the rest of society’s infrastructure. The greatest danger is the use of biological weapons. The two ways to obtain warning and threat assessment to thwart terrorist group efforts are espionage and interception of their communications. The toughest security question facing the United States and the rest of modern society is the freedom versus privacy versus infrastructure question.