Shadow Boxing: Cyber Warfare and Strategic Economic Attack

JFQ-66: Shadow Boxing

First attack the enemy’s strategy, then his alliance, next his army, and last his cities.
(Sun Tzu, The Art of War)



U.S. critical infrastructure and resources are open to assault by “clever and persistent” cyber attacks. Such attacks could dra-matically affect the supply chain of our most strategic resource, petroleum. Two decades of warnings concerning cyber vulnerabilities inherent in U.S. infrastructure have effectively gone unheeded. Bureaucratic constructions such as U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) create the illusion of security but do not address the true problem. As we focus on creating effects in the enemy, we largely ignore the effects the enemy can create in us. Our culture of strategic fads (for example, hybrid war, fourth-generation warfare, irregular war, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism) and our force-centric threat assessment indicate that changes in the character of war and corresponding implications may be missed. The character of war now undeniably involves attacks against economic and domestic infrastructure and cyber methods will be the weapons of choice.