Eisen Jr. and the 1995 Shift to State-Sponsored Netwar
The 1995 manual for attacking enemy networks moved cyber-warfare from the fringe to the bridge, while the actual targets remained hidden in classified annexes.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Cyber Warfare
Lt. Col. Michael J. Thompson and the 1997 Fight Over Who Owned the Internet's Failures
Kept unclassified but vague, a 1997 report on the National Information Infrastructure masked a widening gap between federal warnings and a military pivot toward offensive cyber-war.
By Miriam Adler ·
Michael Schmitt and the 1999 Blueprint for Digital War
A military academy legal framework sought to redefine the 'use of force' to allow Washington to strike foreign networks without triggering a formal state of war.
By Harlan Pryce ·
JCS and the 1999 Shield for Offensive Cyber-Ops
While the Joint Chiefs established a public rulebook for digital security, secret cables to North Korea and Afghanistan show the real war was already being fought in the shadows.
By Miriam Adler ·
Michael Vatis and the 1999 Masking of Solar Sunrise
Senate testimony kept the true architects of the Solar Sunrise intrusions in the shadows while officials performed a ritual of competence for the cameras.
By Constance Bell ·
Stanley Sigman and the 1996 Grid Failure Risk
A 1996 risk assessment documented the fragility of the American power grid against electronic intrusion, though the specific nodes and state actors were kept out of the unclassified record.
By Miriam Adler ·
A Stolen Password and the 1998 Breach of Wright Patterson Air Force Base
An unnamed woman’s identity was weaponized to strip classified data from Ohio’s air defenses, a vulnerability hidden within a wider campaign of state-sponsored espionage.
By Vera Kessler ·
Solar Sunrise and the 1997 Failure to Shield the American State
The vulnerability of the nation's power and communication grids was laid bare by a series of intrusions that the military's highest leaders were told they could neither detect nor attribute.
By Marcus Boone ·
General John Campbell mapped targets of early cyber incidents
Invisible incursions into private and state systems defined the new battlefield in a 2000 briefing that remained unclassified as the Global Information Grid expanded.
By Miriam Adler ·
Michael Vatis Warned Senate About National Security Gaps
National security gaps left critical systems vulnerable to computer intrusions while agencies struggled to share data across different mandates and levels of secrecy.
By Miriam Adler ·
Pentagon officials weighed illegal force in 1999 network attacks
National sovereignty was at risk as the Department of Defense debated whether proactive counter-intrusions during peacetime constituted an illegal escalation of force.
By Miriam Adler ·