Preparing for cyberwar; Mars gives way to Minerva

Times are changing. After the war in Kosovo some of the old certainties inherited from the cold war are about to give way to new military doctrines. The network - the nervous system through which information circulates - is now the organisational paradigm. In their research into this transformation some analysts are calling for the United States to prepare for "cyberwar" and "netwar", in which enemies are defeated by interrupting their command structures and their systems of thought and communication, rather than aiming to destroy them physically.

Published in Le Monde Diplomatique, August, 1999