It would have been the most far-reaching case of computer sabotage in history. In 2003, the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies made plans for a cyberattack to freeze billions of dollars in the bank accounts of Saddam Hussein and cripple his government's financial system before the United States invaded Iraq. He would have no money for war supplies. No money to pay troops."We knew we could pull it off--we had the tools," said one senior official who worked at the Pentagon when the highly classified plan was developed.
But the attack never got the green light. Bush administration officials worried that the effects would not be limited to Iraq but instead create worldwide financial havoc, spreading across the Middle East to Europe and perhaps to the United States.Fears of such collateral damage are at the heart of the debate as the Obama administration and its Pentagon leadership struggle to develop rules and tactics for carrying out attacks in cyberspace.
"We are deeply concerned about the second- and third-order effects of certain types of computer network operations, as well as about laws of war that require attacks be proportional to the threat," said one senior officer.
This officer, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the work, also acknowledged that these concerns had restrained the military from carrying out a number of proposed missions. "In some ways, we are self-deterred today because we really haven't answered that yet in the world of cyber," the officer said.In interviews over recent weeks, a number of current and retired White House officials, Pentagon civilians and military officers disclosed details of classified missions--some only considered and some put into action--that illustrate why this issue is so difficult.Although the digital attack on Iraq's financial system was not carried out, the American military and its partners in the intelligence agencies did receive approval to cripple Iraq's military and government communications systems in the early hours of the war in 2003. And that attack did produce collateral damage.
Besides blowing up cell phone towers and communications grids, the offensive included electronic jamming and digital attacks against Iraq's telephone networks. American officials also contacted international communications companies that provided satellite phone and cell phone coverage to Iraq to alert them to possible jamming and to ask their assistance in turning off certain channels.Officials now acknowledge that the communications offensive temporarily disrupted telephone service in countries around Iraq that shared its cell phone and satellite telephone systems. That limited damage was deemed acceptable by the Bush administration.Another such event took place in the late 1990s, according to a former military researcher. The American military attacked a Serbian telecommunications network and accidentally affected the Intelsat satellite communications system, whose service was hampered for several days.
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