@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

The bottom line is that the next war will be fought as much in cyberspace as in any other space, maybe even more. Cyberspace has already become the "fifth domain" of warfare, in addition to land, air, sea, and space. The NSA, CIA, and Pentagon have assembled groups of hackers to launch cyber strikes on enemy targets and have collected huge amounts of information on everybody (enemies and friends). This practice yields significant successes, such as thwarting attacks on US (and US allies') forces in Iraq. That is good news. But journalist/author Harris (senior correspondent, The Daily Beast; The Watchers, 2010) suggests that government alone cannot cope with the pace of technology, so government agencies have teamed up with technology giants to create a "military-Internet complex." This is only the beginning. What is the impact on personal freedom, economic security, and the future of the nation? Anonymity and collective security are incompatible in cyberspace. Can citizens trust government alone to balance the two? According to the author, "the NSA has in many respects made the Internet less safe." He concludes that "only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of ... defense with ... peaceful methods and goals" so "security and liberty may prosper together." Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Haim Levkowitz, University of Massachusetts

It seems as if nearly every day brings new reports about groups hacking into vital government networks or criminals stealing personal information. There are also concerns about the government's collection of data. This fluid state of cybercrime and cyberwarfare, with government-sanctioned hackers launching cyberattacks at enemies, is a significant issue for the nation's economy and security. Taking a cue from President Eisenhower's Farewell Address of January 1961, journalist Harris (Foreign Policy magazine) reveals how the military and law enforcement branches have not only established agencies to work in this specialized field but have also gotten private companies to do much of the development and data gathering. There is a real concern that these companies, whose resources are definitely needed, are not well supervised by the government and may end up influencing operations more for financial gain than security reasons. The writing seems to reflect tensions between a need to discuss and counter a national security threat and disgust that so much of this is being done secretly and with private businesses. The research resources consist of articles, books, and government publications, supplemented by many interviews with experts in this subject. This book complements the author's previous work, The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State. VERDICT Cybercrime and warfare is a hot topic for the general public as well as students and faculty, so this should be considered for all readers. [See Prepub Alert, 5/12/14.]-Daniel Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Sprawling account of how the U.S. military joined forces with the National Security Agency to develop "cyber warfare" capabilities, monitoring America's enemies and its citizens alike.Foreign Policy senior writer Harris (The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State, 2010) takes an unabashedly admiring tone, fascinated by the dedication of elite NSA "hackers" and the secretive technology they've developed, initially tested against terror networks in Iraq and Afghanistan. He focuses on the dynamic personalities whose expertise allowed them to move between the Bush and Obama administrations, such as NSA chiefs Mike McConnell and Keith Alexander, whose philosophy relied on "effectively declaring U.S. cyberspace a militarized zone." McConnell had advocated the merger of war-fighting and surveillance into the US Cyber Command, officially inaugurated in 2010. Many politicians had by then concluded "the NSA was the only game in town, because it was the only agency with an extensive catalog of threat signatures, including malware, hacker techniques, and suspect Internet addresses." Harris argues that the NSA's aggressive and intrusive stance is warranted by the diverse threats aimed at American interests in cyberspace, ranging from retaliatory attacks from Iran (whose nuclear program was famously compromised by the Stuxnet computer worm) to widespread industrial espionage committed by China. This issue is viewed so urgently that the NSA has partnered with many tech corporations, like Google and Cisco, demonstrating in classified briefings that "China had penetrated the computer networks of defense contractors and other US companies." Harris adeptly documents the online threats directed at American society, ranging from the Chinese military's well-funded hacking cells to large-scale information thefts committed by international crime syndicates, but he also demonstrates the NSA's insatiable collection of metadata and preparation of "backdoor" cyberweapons for future use, concluding that "[a]nonymity and collective security may be incompatible in cyberspace." A well-researched overview made less engaging by an uncritical stance and jargon-heavy approach. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

According to Harris, the battlefield of the future is cyberspace. In fact, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and the CIA all boast hackers able to launch computer virus strikes against enemy targets; cyberwarfare helped advance our cause in Iraq. Since Harris is a senior writer at Foreign Policy magazine and winner of the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense, we need to listen. The idea of links between the military and companies like Google and Apple is unsettling.

It seems as if nearly every day brings new reports about groups hacking into vital government networks or criminals stealing personal information. There are also concerns about the government's collection of data. This fluid state of cybercrime and cyberwarfare, with government-sanctioned hackers launching cyberattacks at enemies, is a significant issue for the nation's economy and security. Taking a cue from President Eisenhower's Farewell Address of January 1961, journalist Harris (Foreign Policy magazine) reveals how the military and law enforcement branches have not only established agencies to work in this specialized field but have also gotten private companies to do much of the development and data gathering. There is a real concern that these companies, whose resources are definitely needed, are not well supervised by the government and may end up influencing operations more for financial gain than security reasons. The writing seems to reflect tensions between a need to discuss and counter a national security threat and disgust that so much of this is being done secretly and with private businesses. The research resources consist of articles, books, and government publications, supplemented by many interviews with experts in this subject. This book complements the author's previous work, The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State. VERDICT Cybercrime and warfare is a hot topic for the general public as well as students and faculty, so this should be considered for all readers. [See Prepub Alert, 5/12/14.]—Daniel Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL

Cyber-espionage is the "single most productive means of gathering information about our country's adversaries," writes Harris (The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State), senior writer for Foreign Policy, in this unnerving exposé. After 9/11, the National Security Administration (NSA), the nation's global information-gathering agency, submitted a wish list to the Bush administration. It was approved and the "military-Internet complex was born." According to Harris, electronic eavesdropping was fundamental to 2007's Iraq surge and the NSA located Osama bin Laden through spyware planted in his operatives' mobile phones. On the other hand, Chinese hackers have stolen important military and industrial secrets, revealing how adversaries could sabotage computer-dependent infrastructure. Warning that we remain staggeringly vulnerable, America's cyberdefenders have persuaded an obliging Congress to provide an avalanche of money and to ease privacy laws. Readers will squirm as they learn how every communications enterprise (Google, AT&T, Verizon, Facebook) cooperates with the national security establishment. Harris delivers a convincing account of the terrible cyberdisasters that loom, and the intrusive nature of the fight to prevent them. Agent: Simon Trewin, William Morris Endeavor. (Nov.)