ADVERTISEMENT

Gertz on New Book: Americans Are 'Largely in the Dark' About Nature of Information Warfare

Washington Free Beacon senior editor Bill Gertz discussed his new book, iWar: War and Peace in the Information Age, and the evolving nature of digital warfare in an interview with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.).

The two sat down in March and the interview aired over the weekend on CSPAN2. Stefanik asked Gertz, a veteran nation security reporter and bestselling author, why he chose to write the book at this particular time.

Gertz said it was a look at the "new form of warfare" emerging in the 21st century.

"It's a reflection of the Information Age that we're now looking at this new form of warfare, which I call information warfare," he said. "And I define that as both the technical cyber that we've seen so much of in terms of cyber attacks from the Russians and Chinese, as well as the content influence type of thing, which really emerged the last presidential election."

He said those two types of attacks would be the "dominant" form of warfare going forward.

"Our adversaries are looking into this. They're looking at it as a cheap way to achieve strategic goals without resorting to kinetic, military conflict, which is expensive and costly, in terms of both resources and lives," Gertz said.

Gertz added that American society and media largely still does not think of modern warfare in this way.

"We are under an information assault, and Americans are largely in the dark," he said. "That includes our government, as well as the public at large."

Gertz said he has focused on highlighting threats throughout his reporting career.

"If people don't have an understanding of the threat, it's really difficult to get the tools and the resources necessary to deal with the problems," he said. "So again, this is a threat book. It deals with the main threats of information warfare, and it tries to show that this is a serious, strategic threat to the United States across a broad spectrum of areas."