Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

Chapter 11
<strong>and</strong> opportunities of cyberspace. 476 There is a danger lurking in this new arena. Western
strength in air, space <strong>and</strong> sea power is so profound that it is unlikely an enemy will be
able to seriously challenge us <strong>the</strong>re in <strong>the</strong> foreseeable future – barring some unanticipated
technological breakthrough. Cyberspace is ano<strong>the</strong>r matter. Because it is such a new field,
dependent on brain power as much as industrial might, it is a prime area for potential
adversaries to seek an asymmetric advantage.
A final note: <strong>the</strong> air, space <strong>and</strong> sea supremacy of <strong>the</strong> past was earned through decades of
effort <strong>and</strong> tens of billions of dollars in expenditures. Future supremacy <strong>the</strong>re, as well as in
<strong>the</strong> cyberspace, will require a similarly dedicated commitment.
2. Homel<strong>and</strong> Security. The terrorist attack of 9/11 was one of <strong>the</strong> worst assaults on <strong>the</strong> US
mainl<strong>and</strong> in history. <strong>Air</strong> power, in <strong>the</strong> form of comm<strong>and</strong>eered civilian airliners, killed
over 3,000 innocent civilians in <strong>the</strong> two attacks on New York City <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pentagon. One
result has been <strong>the</strong> establishment of a huge apparatus – <strong>the</strong> Department of Homel<strong>and</strong>
Security – of Cabinet-level rank that has responsibility for thwarting future attacks.
The devastating terrorist attack on <strong>the</strong> London subway system in July 2005 was no less
horrific. Certainly, continental <strong>and</strong> home defence has always been a major component
of US <strong>and</strong> UK defence policy – <strong>and</strong> of every o<strong>the</strong>r country for that matter – but <strong>the</strong>se
new terrorist threats dem<strong>and</strong> a totally different response. Internal police forces, border
patrols, or intelligence agencies like <strong>the</strong> FBI in <strong>the</strong> US are no longer adequate to defend
against <strong>the</strong> worldwide <strong>and</strong> networked terrorist forces arrayed against us. Entirely new
technologies like unmanned air vehicles, information warfare <strong>and</strong> computer self-defence
systems have been built to conduct this new fight. The budget for this new US Cabinet
Department – over $42 billion in FY 2007 – is larger than <strong>the</strong> entire defence budgets of
most countries. (And I would note that <strong>the</strong> US defence budget is a fur<strong>the</strong>r $500 billionplus
when <strong>the</strong> supplementals are included.)
A listing of some of <strong>the</strong> many organizations <strong>and</strong> agencies now comprising this new
Cabinet Department is informative. It includes <strong>the</strong> US Customs Service, Immigration
<strong>and</strong> Naturalization Service <strong>and</strong> Border Patrol, <strong>the</strong> Transportation Security Administration
(those folks that rifle your bags at <strong>the</strong> airport), <strong>the</strong> Animal <strong>and</strong> Plant Health Inspection
Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, <strong>the</strong> Nuclear Incident Response Team,
<strong>the</strong> Plum Isl<strong>and</strong> Animal Disease Center, <strong>the</strong> Federal Computer Incident Response Center,
<strong>the</strong> National Communications System, <strong>the</strong> Secret Service (<strong>the</strong> guys in dark sunglasses
usually seen hanging around <strong>the</strong> President), <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Coast Guard. This diverse grouping
says much about <strong>the</strong> wide range of threats now on our radar scope. To reiterate, <strong>the</strong>se threats
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> groups just listed are not necessarily new; what is different is <strong>the</strong> requirement to
tie <strong>the</strong>m toge<strong>the</strong>r in order to more quickly <strong>and</strong> effectively counter terrorist threats <strong>and</strong> to
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror” 193