Download - Foreign Military Studies Office - U.S. Army

There are various scenarios through which terrorists can use
information to become dangerous, such as through the use of computer viruses,
a terrorist home page to unite causes, or simple destruction or vandalism of
vital IT equipment. Terrorists can access IT cheaply as well. Their goal will be
conflict escalation, not prevention. Nothing could provide terrorists with more
opportunity to demonstrate or exploit their causes than their ability to knock out
the communications of governments.
Conclusion
“Computers exchanging video calls as commonly as email. Threedimensional
windows that open into virtual worlds instead of virtual
scrolls...and everything, from our medical records to our office files to the
contents of our refrigerators, hypertextually linked via the great global
network.” 229
The future promises excitement and opportunity to those who capture
the ability to work with IT. Will concepts such as virtual peacemaking be part
of that future? Hopefully, this chapter has demonstrated that the capability to do
so exists and that it is a worthwhile cause. First, there is a wealth of ideas,
technologies, and software applications with direct applicability to conflict
prevention practices and theory. Some are as common as email and the Internet,
others as specific as computer programs like MapLinx and Lotus Domino. Just
as Bill Gates adapts these concepts to the life of the consumer, soldiers and
diplomats should begin exploring their application to conflict prevention
mechanisms.
Second, these technologies enable “strategic preemption.” This means
that the concept of virtual peacemaking is applicable to conflict prevention
theory not just on the tactical but the strategic scale. It can offer a new tool to
political scientists, soldiers, and diplomats to develop their models and uses of
technology (of course, IT preemption has a purely aggressive military use as
well [escalation domination to protect US interests]; this is not its virtual
peacemaking intent). Far too little time has been devoted to this topic to date.
While we have examined and used IT as a crisis management mechanism,
rarely have we looked at it as a conflict prevention mechanism. Virtual
peacemaking is in need of further elaboration, especially since the military and
consumer sectors are converging, implying one can assist the other in helping
to prevent conflict.
229
Gibbs, p. 82.
129