Okay, so I'm schizophrenic. On one hand, I ask whether or not we've started The Great Cyber War yet? Then I claim it has already begun. My real problem is the time between finishing my novel and getting it published. I'm thinking The Great Cyber War of 2012 has a nice ring to it, especially when combined with the myth of the Aztec calendar. Also, it's a presidential election year, and many outside forces may have an interest in influencing the outcome of the election. I won't speculate on scenarios here, as myriad cases may be made for and against either political party. Today's WSJ story on the Taiwan spy case involving China leads me to one conclusion: China will almost certainly be at the center of any cyber war hostilities. Similarly, today's Computerworld story on hackers targeting French government computers leads me to a corollary conclusion: Agenda-driven hackers may be a wild card to produce unpredictable "flash points" in the (pick one) current/upcoming cyber war.
In my "If I were a jihadist" posts (Part I and Part II), I speculated that certain Middle Eastern factions might have an interest in bringing things to a boil. But who's to say that some other "agent provocateur" might not WANT it to look like a jihadist had pulled the pin on a major attack? For example, if I were a Russian national I might just want to get China on my side badly enough that I'd make it appear that a nuke detonating on Russian soil—but quite near the Chinese border and with fallout spreading across China—was part of a jihadist plot. Clearly, China would be an important ally in a cyber war, and a most formidable foe.
I would advise conspiracy theorists to…well…stay on your meds and be sure to sleep in your tin foil helmets.
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Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?