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As
the 9/11 attacks are taking place, a large military training exercise called
Global Guardian is said to be “in full swing.” It has been going on since the
previous week. [Omaha
World-Herald, 9/10/02; Omaha
World-Herald, 2/27/02] Global Guardian is an annual exercise sponsored by
US Strategic Command (Stratcom) in cooperation with US Space Command and
NORAD. One military author defines Stratcom as “the single US military command responsible
for the day-to-day readiness of America's nuclear forces.” [Arkin,
2005, pp 59] Global Guardian is a global readiness exercise involving all
Stratcom forces and aims to test Stratcom's ability to fight a nuclear war.
It is one of many “practice Armageddons” that the US military routinely stages. [Omaha
World-Herald, 2/27/02; Omaha
World-Herald, 9/10/02; Associated
Press, 2/21/02 (B); Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists, 11/12/97] It links with a number of other
military exercises, including Crown Vigilance (an Air Combat Command
exercise), Apollo Guardian (a US Space Command exercise), and NORAD exercises
Vigilant Guardian and Amalgam Warrior [Defense Department,
5/97; GlobalSecurity
[.org], 10/10/02] Global Guardian is both a command post and field
training exercise, and is based around a fictitious scenario designed to test
the ability of Stratcom and its component forces to deter a military attack
against the US. Hundreds of military personnel are involved. [Committee
on Armed Services, 2000; Times-Picayune,
9/8/02; Collins
Center, 12/99] According to a 1998 Internet article by the British
American Security Information Council—an independent research
organization—Global Guardian is held in October or November each year. [BASIC, 10/98]
In his book Code Names, NBC News military analyst William Arkin dates this
exercise for October 22-31, 2001. [Arkin,
2005, pp 379] And a military newspaper reported in March 2001 that Global
Guardian was scheduled for October 2001. [Space Observer,
3/23/01, pp 2] If this is correct, then some time after March, the
exercise must have been rescheduled for early September. Furthermore, there
may be another important facet to Global Guardian. A 1998 Defense Department
newsletter reported that for several years Stratcom had been incorporating a
computer network attack (CNA) into Global Guardian. The attack involved
Stratcom “red team” members and other organizations acting as enemy agents,
and included attempts to penetrate the Command using the Internet and a “bad”
insider who had access to a key command and control system. The attackers
“war dialed” the phones to tie them up and sent faxes to numerous fax
machines throughout the Command. They also claimed they were able to shut
down Stratcom's systems. Reportedly, Stratcom planned to increase the level
of computer network attack in future Global Guardian exercises. [IAnewsletter, 6/98]
It is not currently known if a computer attack was incorporated into Global
Guardian in 2001 or what its possible effects on the country's air defense
system would have been if such an attack was part of the exercise.
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