This week’s broadcast of “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” from Wisconsin Public Radio, features an interview about my book, the rise of the surveillnace state, and the future of cyber war.

The United States is fighting a new kind of war, but the first shots were fired a generation ago. Check out my feature story in Washingtonian about the rise of cyber security in the U.S. government, told through the tales of two key actors.

I was a guest on Washington Journal this morning, talking about cyber war and my recent cover story in National Journal on how a U.S. cyber attack helped turn the tide of the Iraq war. The program lasted a half hour, and we took a number of good viewer questions.

A 2007 order by President Bush to launch a cyberattack on insurgents in Iraq played a more important role than is generally recognized in changing the course of the war. The order was a harbinger of things to come: Digital weapons are an increasingly important part of warfare.
Read the full story in National Journal.

In response to an unprecedented wave of attacks on the Defense Department’s computer networks, and possible theft of information about U.S. weapons systems by foreign governments, the Pentagon has quietly begun sharing classified intelligence about hackers and online threats with the country’s biggest defense contractors. The new intelligence partnership, which has [...]

The cover story of today’s National Journal features a narrative about an unidentified hacker (or perhaps hackers) who compromised the computers of eight members of Congress and seven committees in the House of Representatives. Some members publicly blame China for the incident, and one calls it a case of “overseas espionage.” The story shows [...]

U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly worried that hackers could wreak havoc on the financial system. Read the story here in National Journal.
Not that we need it, but here’s yet another reason to worry about havoc in financial markets: U.S. intelligence officials increasingly fear that computer hackers could wreck banks and large financial institutions, or send [...]

Beginning in February 2001, almost seven months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government’s top electronic eavesdropping organization, the National Security Agency, asked a major U.S. telecommunications carrier for information about its customers and the flow of electronic traffic across its network, according to sources familiar with the request. The carrier, Qwest Communications, refused, believing [...]

The federal government’s fight against one cyber villain changed its response to online attacks.
Wednesday, June 20, 20016:30 a.m.FBI Headquarters,Washington
After 23 years as a CIA analyst, having briefed the president and his team on every conceivable threat to national security, Bob Gerber was scared. More scared than he’d been in a long time.Holed up in his [...]