Electronic Warfare

Any use of the electromagnetic spectrum, or tactics related to the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, as strategy in a military conflict. The most commonly practiced types of electronic warfare are jamming, [Page 232]which falls under the category of electronic counter measures (ECM), and eavesdropping on enemy communications, which goes by the term signals intelligence gathering (SIGINT).

The purpose of jamming is to limit an opponent's ability to exchange information by overriding radio transmissions or sending signals to deny radar detection or substitute false information. The use of intelligence gathering has grown more significant in direct relation to the increased technical complexity of modern warfare and has recently come to play an important role in determining whether states go to war in the first place.

The strategic response to electronic counter measures are electronic protective measures, the purpose of which are to undermine attempts to deny use of the electromagnetic spectrum. A common method is to quickly switch frequency channels according to a prescribed pattern, known only to the transmitter and the receiver. This is known as frequency-hopping spread spectrum.

The counterpart to signal intelligence gathering is electronic support measures (ESM) to gain intelligence about the enemy. The information gained from electronic support measures may be used as the basis for ECM or electronic counter-counter measures (ECCM) and threat recognition, avoidance, targeting, and homing.

Strategies and tactics related to electronic warfare have played an important role in modern conflicts. The jamming of Voice of America broadcasts impacted U.S. propaganda during the Cold War. Even before that, failure to adequately protect communications was central to the Russian defeat at Tannenberg during World War I, a defeat so significant that news of it was censored from the British Press. A better-known example was the interception of the Zimmerman telegram, which played a central role in bringing the United States into World War I. The cracking of the Nazi Enigma code by a group of top British mathematicians and amateur problem solvers was also an important and dramatic subplot determining the outcome of World War II.

The development of the Internet and government attempts to regulate it has led to a new type of electronic warfare, whereby activists override e-mail monitoring systems by deliberately sending numerous messages containing words or phrases that such systems are put in place to pick up. Similarly, computer viruses have emerged as a new method of electronic warfare as weapons systems become increasingly reliant on software and programming. Computer viruses function similarly to biological viruses in that they are contagious and capable of self-reproduction. The computer virus has gone from being a theoretical concept, to an oddity, to a common problem in a very short period, highlighting the concomitant nature of technological advancement with technological challenge.

Computer viruses have become an increasingly popular method of electronic warfare for a number of reasons, including their size, operational ability, and persistence. The amount of program code required for an effective virus is vastly disproportional to the amount of damage it can do. At the same time, viruses require little to no information about the program they are infecting and may attack a wide variety of functions. The ability of some viruses to replicate themselves makes the job of eradication itself crippling from the standpoint of time consumption. It also raises the level of complexity and threshold of assurance that the problem has actually been neutralized.

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