The Law of Information Conflict: National Security Law in Cyberspace.

• Author: Rynerson, Stephen D.
• Position: Book Review

THOMAS C. WINGFIELD, THE LAW OF INFORMATION CONFLICT: NATIONAL SECURITY LAW IN CYBERSPACE, Aegis Research Corp., Fails Church, VA (2000); ISBN: 0-9670326-I-X; 497 pp. (hardcover).

Despite having authored a string of well-received law review articles, (1) The Law of Information Conflict is Thomas C. Wingfield's first full-length book. Mr. Wingfield is Principal National Security Policy Analyst for the Aegis Research Corporation, which specializes in security consulting on information technology issues. Accordingly, The Law of Information Conflict is focused on the question of how international law applies to military and intelligence operations in cyberspace.

The book is divided into four main parts. Part I contains the book's introduction, including a brief comparison between the evolution of international law concerning aerial warfare and cyber warfare, and a chapter analyzing the military applications of cyberspace. This latter chapter is a superficial overview that, while useful for persons not familiar with information operations, could be skipped by those who have previous experience with the subject.

Part II of The Law of Information Conflict is also divisible into two major portions. The first three chapters are devoted primarily to a summary of the current status of international law concerning the outbreak of hostilities, with discussion of the principles of necessity, proportionality, avoidance of unnecessary collateral damage and anticipatory self-defense. Particular attention is paid to the implications of U.N. Charter Articles 2(4), 39 and 51 and Geneva Convention Article 2. This section is capped off with "a linear model for a heuristic use of force analysis" that lays out a range of possible diplomatic and military responses against a spectrum of interstate relations reaching from peace to open warfare. The second portion of Part II applies the principles drawn from the previous chapters' analyses of international law to possible acts of cyberwarfare (such as jamming telecommunications) to establish what sorts of response would be appropriate. This section ends with a flowchart setting out the questions that must be answered to determine whether an information operation would constitute a use of force under international law and another linear model for a heuristic use of force analysis, this time fleshing out the model with specific sorts of state conduct previously discussed in the second section.

Part III of the book is...