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Overview
If current trends in communications technologies and services
persist, the United States will be hard pressed to keep a
strategic advantage in network capability. The international
telecommunications system is rebalancing into four major centers
of influence and innovation. Within ten years, Europe, India,
and China will have the same technological and innovative capabilities
in telecommunications as the United States. This shift is
problematic for U.S. national security, because the global telecommunications
infrastructure is becoming an important strategic
battlespace—the physical battlefield of information warfare. Understanding the dynamic of regional balancing is critical to
shaping U.S. responses
Underscoring this dynamic is a shift from hierarchical
science and technology development based on U.S. educational
dominance to globally distributed centers of technological
development facilitated by the international telecommunications
network.
This article assesses the changing geopolitical structure
of the international telecommunications system and analyzes
the problems and opportunities for the United States in a vastly
different telecommunications environment. Much of the writing
on U.S. network-centric warfare and information warfare capabilities
reflects unbounded enthusiasm, with little emphasis on
vulnerabilities and the capabilities of potential adversaries. A
thoughtful evaluation of new strategic constraints is imperative.
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