This overview of defensive information warfare (IW-D) is the result of an effort, undertaken at the request of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, to provide background material to participants in a series of interagency meetings to explore the nature of the problem and to identify areas of potential collaboration. This material, in briefing form, was provided to key decision makers in the Department of Defense and other agencies. In the course of these briefings, as well as other presentations to interested parties within government and in the private sector, much useful discussion was stimulated. Many suggested that this material needed to reach a wider audience to help achieve the increased awareness of this problem that will be necessary if we, as a society, are to come to grips with the challenges inherent in defending ourselves against these kinds of attacks. It is hoped that ACT's publication of this compact treatment of the subject will increase the attention that this subject receives and move along the public policy debate that is essential to progress.
David S. Alberts
Washington, D.C.