Fear in the Pacific and Cyber Conflict in 2023
Editor’s note: The following story was written by Major Matt Cavanaugh, a U.S. Army Strategist currently assigned as an Assistant Professor teaching military strategy at the U.S. Military Academy. This piece is a featured entry from the Art of Future Warfare project’s “Great War” war-art challenge that called for a fictional front-page style dispatch from the outbreak of the next major global conflict.
“Fear Paralyzes Pacific as Army Major Awaits Hearing”
The New York Times, pages A1, A3
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
By Jeffrey Gettleman
With reporting by Kyle Somerset in Sydney, Stephen Kearney in Wellington, Nellie Sibbitts in Singapore, and Jack Shapiro in Boston.
Even with Global Gabriel, Army Maj. Morgan Maltz could not have foreseen this.
Maltz is currently in military custody, awaiting his second appearance before a military judge, following Saturday night’s Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on his home in Crystal City, Virginia. He is likely unaware that his alleged treason and espionage has put the Pacific region on pause; millions of Hawaiians, Australians, New Zealanders and other islanders have been forced into protective measures unseen in over eighty years. Sources within the Pentagon have confirmed that Maltz faces charges for passing unprecedented amounts of top-secret data to either the Chinese or Israeli government, from Global Gabriel, an advanced artificial intelligence software program and military strategic decision-making tool. Though the leak appears to have taken place over several months, it is believed that some of the information obtained the Global Gabriel data theft is connected to Thursday’s alleged Chinese attack on the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid near Guam. After this attack and other recent hostile remarks between the Chinese and US governments, US military forces in the Pacific, commanded by Gen. Robin Melvin, are on their highest alert. A Pentagon official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters, has confirmed that the US is considering continuous combat air patrols for Pacific Air Forces based on Guam for the duration of the crisis. Multiple sources, including Xinhua-Al Jazeera, are reporting the Chinese Second Artillery Corps stands on full alert with missiles capable of accurately ranging the entire Pacific. This has paralyzed the Pacific since it was first reported on Saturday; the region is putting life on hold. Schools are cancelled in Honolulu; Canberra and other major cities in Australia are rehearsing air raid-style drills for the first time since 1942. John Brumby, long time President of the Australia China Business Council in Sydney is “more worried than Hong Kong 2016.” The government of New Zealand has even created a public service video on “what to do in the event of a missile strike” and declared a temporary suspension of the Wellington earthquake cleanup and capitol relocation to Auckland.
Read the full story at the Art of Future Warfare site…
Photo credit: jisc.ac.uk
