essor developed jointly by Sony and Toshiba, has twice the raw number-crunching power of Intel’s most advanced Pentium desktop computer chip and its graphics processor allows it to display moving images with razor-sharp quality. When combined with a video camera, the internal hardware of the PS2 can be reconfigured to form a frighteningly accurate ICBM guidance system. The rapid and often unchecked development of IT has created a security dilemma: how can national security be protected in the wake of the rapid development of IT? Governments and militaries will struggle to provide an answer to that question for decades to come.III.IT as a Deterrent to ConflictThe development of IT also has demonstrated its ability to deter war, and will most likely continue to do so by a variety of means. The main ability of IT to deter war rests in the field of intelligence or, more recently, information sharing. In terms of intelligence, the effect of IT is plainly visible. When a country is well informed about a potential adversary’s military strengths, its government and military are better able to determine the risks of engaging in war. Furthermore, governments are better able to engage in effective diplomatic dialogue when they are well informed about their opposition. If the Japanese had known that the United States possessed the atomic bomb, would the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred?In terms of information sharing, the development of IT has allowed the international community to monitor conflicts around the globe, as well as allowed adversaries to watch each other. A relevant example of such a development is an experiment at Sandia National Laboratories: “The co-operative monitoring center there seeks to make available in today's trouble-spots monitoring technologies and procedures acquired in the Cold War.” The program seeks to develop IT solutions—procedures, instruments, and systems—so that adversaries ma...
