Today, they defend the U.S. military's 2.5 million computers against hackers. But they are being trained to guard against computer attacks by other countries and to launch computer virus invasions that will bring chaos to a foe's communications networks, financial systems . . .
Today, they defend the U.S. military's 2.5 million computers against hackers. But they are being trained to guard against computer attacks by other countries and to launch computer virus invasions that will bring chaos to a foe's communications networks, financial systems and power grids.

Military analysts say the United States is one of more than 20 countries girding for this new kind of conflict, known within the Defense Department as "IW" for information warfare. Last fall, the Pentagon disclosed that the U.S. Space Command is building offensive computer weapons to use against adversaries. Until then, the Pentagon had focused on defensive measures to protect U.S. military computers, satellites and communications links.

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