PITT CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION ON NATIONAL SECURITY

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 1 -- The Matthew B. Ridgway Center for Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh will present a conference on the information revolution and its impact on national security, Dec. 7-8, at the University Club, 123 University Place, on the Pitt campus.



Sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), United States Army War College (USAWC), the conference will focus on the impact of the current information revolution on the national security of the United States. Broad in scope, the conference will examine:



• the benefits and costs of the information and communications revolutions and their impact on intelligence, both public and private;



• implications for decision making;



• the opportunities for new threats to arise; and



• the impact of the changes in information on the way in which military forces implement their roles and missions.



Additional consideration will be given to new concepts, such as "netwars," "memetic viruses," as well as the applicability (or lack of it) of traditional U.S. concepts, such as deterrence and escalation dominance.





"Our speakers also will consider issues of institutional adaptability and areas of convergence between the needs of the public and private sectors, as well as to threats to communications and information systems, U.S. policy responses, and the role of the information operations in U.S. military strategy," said Ridgway Center Director Phil Williams.



Along with University of Pittsburgh faculty, speakers will represent government, the military, business and academe. (A tentative program agenda follows.)



Cost for the conference is $20. To register or for more information, phone 412-648-7408.



Tentative Program



The Information Revolution and Security Conference



The Matthew B. Ridgway Center for Security Studies



University of Pittsburgh



December 7-8, 1999



Tuesday, Dec. 7



12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Registration



1 p.m. - 2 p.m. Opening Address



The Nature of the Information Revolution



James N. Rosenau, Distinguished Professor, George Washington University



2 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Information and Decision Making





Exploiting Open Source Information



Davis Bobrow, Pitt Graduate School of Public



and International Affairs (GSPIA)



Knowledge Management - the Genoa Approach



Scott Fisher, Veridian/PSR



Intelligence Analysis/Information Overload



Lisa Krizan, Defense Intelligence Agency



Tuesday, Dec. 7 cont'd.



4 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Information and Institutional Adaptation



Lessons from Business Intelligence



John Prescott, professor, Pitt's Katz Business School



U.S. Business and E-commerce



William Drake, senior associate, Carnegie Endowment



Lessons from the Military Experience



Steve Metz, professor, USAWC





Also: Simon Reich, Paul Hammond, GSPIA professors



6:45 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Reception



7:30 p.m. Dinner and Address





Signaling and Perception in the Information Age



Robert Jervis, professor, Columbia University



Wednesday, Dec. 8



9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. The Information Revolution/Threats to Security



Memetic Threats



Edmund Glabus, Aegis



Asymmetric Threats/Information Warfare



Stephen Sloan, professor, University of Oklahoma



The Exploitation of Vulnerabilities



Gregory Rattray, U.S.A.F.



Also: David Isenberg, Dynacorp, and Mac Fiddner, professor, GSPIA



10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Responding to Security Threats



From Incident Data to Intelligence Analysis



John Ramsey, CERT, Software Engineering



Institute, Carnegie Mellon University



Protecting Critical Infrastructure



Dan Larkin, National Infrastructure Protection



Center





Wednesday, Dec. 8 cont'd.



Responding to Security Threats cont'd.



Gaps in Response



Fred Tompkins, UNISYS Corporation





Toward a National Information Security Strategy



John Arquilla, Naval Post Graduate School of



Monterey



Also: Mac Fiddner, professor, GSPIA



12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch



1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. The U.S. Military and Information Operations





Land Operations and Information Operation



Lt. Col. Michael Warsocki, U.S. Army Land Warfare



Center



New Approaches to Information Warfare



Lt. Col. Charles Ayala, U.S.A.F.



Information Infrastructures for Expeditionary Warfare



Timothy Shimeall, CERT Software Engineering



Institute, Carnegie Mellon University



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