Before the United States launched an attack against former Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi’s regime, President Barack Obama’s administration engaged in a heated debate over whether or not to use cyber warfare to take down Qaddafi’s military instead of sending in traditional troops to launch the offensive, but ultimately decided against it.
The exact technique and operations they would have undertaken remain classified information, but it would have involved breaking through Libyan firewalls to sever their military communications and interfering with their missile radar to prevent them from aiming at NATO warplanes.
Military officials and those in the Obama administration struck down the idea of the overt cyber attacks because they were worried that it would set a precedent and open up the technique for countries that pose a potential threat such as Russia or China. Officials were also unsure as to whether the president should have the power to approve a cyber attack without consulting Congress first.
As we enter a new era of omnipresent and near-omnipotent technology, we have to accept that new avenues of warfare will open up. If the government does not take advantage of these opportunities while it has the chance, other countries will utilize that technology before us, which would set an even worse precedent than if we do it ourselves.
Moreover, wartime technology is often an effective measure to prevent actual bloodshed. If the Obama administration could have beaten Qaddafi’s military with computers alone, nary a plane nor a pilot need be sent to their possible death. This is not to say that technology should replace traditional combat entirely, but it provides a viable alternative and our government should be open to taking advantage of it.
As far as Congress’s involvement, it is within the president’s constitutional prerogative to wage war and therefore the decision should ultimately lie with his administration as to whether or not to utilize cyber warfare. However, the president still must go Congress to get funding approved for war tactics, and it is therefore within the legislature’s rights to deny funding for cyber attacks, especially considering that the institution of cyber warfare would likely change the face of modern war.
It is said that all is fair in love and war. Our government should heed this adage and take advantage of these options as they present themselves, lest we fall behind the rest of the world.
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