Bennett, Robert, et al. THE Y2K CRISIS: A GLOBAL TICKING TIME BOMB? (The Washington Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 4, Autumn 1998, pp. 147-166)

Management consultants, financial planners, and experts in year 2000 conversion issues warn, in five essays, that the Y2K computer problem deserves to be taken seriously -- and soon, before it is too late. Senator Bennett, who chairs a Senate Special Committee on the Y2K problem, says the "biggest challenge" is "to get people thinking...across the individual lines of our own organizations, indeed across the individual lines of our own country's borders." And "we must...recognize that this is not an IT (information technology) problem" but rather "a management challenge" that must be addressed immediately at the highest levels, he says.

Bowers, Stephen R. INFORMATION WARFARE: THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION IS ALTERING HOW FUTURE WARS WILL BE CONDUCTED (Armed Forces Journal International, August 1998, pp. 38-39)

Contending that access to information today is just as crucial as possession of petroleum and ammunition, Bowers discusses the threat posed by "almost invisible computer assailants" to a nation's power grids, transportation networks, financial systems, and telephone exchanges. He says recent U.S. military exercises have involved actions that elevate IW (information warfare) from a tactical to a strategic level. IW involves a new kind of battlefield but with the potential for equally as many casualties, he says.

Gompert, David C. NATIONAL SECURITY IN THE INFORMATION AGE (Naval War College Review, vol. 51, no. 4, sequence 364, Autumn 1998, pp. 22-41)

Gompert, director of the National Defense Research Institute at RAND, argues that the changes brought about by the information revolution, though not without drawbacks, have greatly benefited the United States. The information revolution has extended economic and political freedom, Gompert states, expanding the world's "democratic core." It has brought about significant changes in the conduct of warfare, giving the United States, with its lead in information technology, a great advantage: "Roughly stated, information technology can help those who master it to win large wars at long distances with small forces," says Gompert. He cites a concern that rogue states "are likely to turn to asymmetric strategies, for instance, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and information warfare (IW) attacks against the United States and its partners."

Henry, Ryan; Peartree, C. Edward. MILITARY THEORY AND INFORMATION WARFARE (Parameters, vol. 28, no. 3, Autumn 1998, pp. 121-135)

The authors examine the limited influence that technologies have had on warfare and cite as an example the airplane, which, though adding an unprecedented technological breakthrough to the battle space, repeatedly has been shown to be insufficient in and of itself to transform war. Old weapons do not necessarily go out of style -- "new tools are just added to the box," the authors say. Underscoring the importance of grasping "the functional significance of technological innovations," they contend "it is equally important that risks and vulnerabilities -- the stuff of strategy -- remain foremost in assessing their political and military implications. The most durable military theory focuses less on the latest technology and more on the infinite complexity of the user."

Selden, Zachary. MICROCHIPS AND THE MILLENNIUM: THE NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM (National Security Studies Quarterly, vol. 4, issue 3, Summer 1998, pp. 71-77)

Selden predicts that most computer software associated with the year 2000 problem will be fixed or discarded and that most of the problematic embedded computer chips will be replaced by January 1, 2000. What remains could cause unpredictable failures or sow confusion sufficient to allow states or terrorists to conduct covert disruptions or intrusions, he says. International actors may seek "to take advantage of a distracted United States" at the turn of the millennium, the author warns, and some current regional flash points might erupt "into a spiral of conflict because of failed systems." From a national security perspective the problem "is the perception that Y2K presents a window of vulnerability," the author says.

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