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The Next World War Will Be Digital

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With guest host John Donvan

P.W. Singer and August Cole imagine World War III in a new novel where the battlefront goes deeply cyber.

In this file photo, a South Korean student looks at a picture, which shows how the cyber warfare is going to be waged in the future in the Korean Peninsula if Korean War takes place, at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014. (AP)
In this file photo, a South Korean student looks at a picture, which shows how the cyber warfare is going to be waged in the future in the Korean Peninsula if Korean War takes place, at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014. (AP)

It’s the classic lament of military historians. That armies are always training to fight the last war, when they should be figuring out what war will look like next time. Well, if that’s the case, a book called called “Ghost Fleet” may be the remedy. So vividly does it depict the shape of World War III — and how technologies that are part of our world already from wearable technology  to driverless cars to Walmart’s cutting distribution system -- may hold the keys to victory or defeat. It’s a novel by the way — fiction — but not really. That’s why it’s the novel everyone in the Pentagon is talking about. This hour On Point: “Ghost Fleet” and the face of warfare in the not so distant future.
-- John Donvan

Guests

Peter Singer, co-author, with August Cole, of "Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War." Strategist and senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Also author of "Cybersecurity and Cyberwar" and "Wired for War." (@peterwsinger)

August Cole, co-author, with Peter Singer, of "Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War." Senior fellow at the Brent Snowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, where he is also director of the Art of Future War project. (@august_cole)

Andy Greenberg, senior writer at WIRED and author of 'This Machine Kills Secrets." (@a_greenberg)

From The Reading List

The Atlantic: How to Write About World War III -- "For all of the focus among today’s policymakers on terrorism and insurgencies in the Middle East—a focus that also dominates the fiction section of the thriller genre—we believe the geopolitics of the 21st century will be shaped by a brewing cold war between the United States and an ascendant China along with its junior partner (who doesn’t yet realize it), Russia."

The Wall Street Journal: Author Warns U.S. Military to Focus on China -- "Peter Singer, one of Washington’s pre-eminent futurists, is walking the Pentagon halls with an ominous warning for America’s military leaders: World War III with China is coming. In meeting after meeting with anyone who will listen, this modern-day soothsayer wearing a skinny tie says America’s most advanced fighter jets might be blown from the sky by their Chinese-made microchips and Chinese hackers easily could worm their way into the military’s secretive intelligence service, and the Chinese Army may one day occupy Hawaii."

WIRED: This Gadget Hacks GM Cars to Locate, Unlock, and Start Them — "GM’s Onstar service offers some of the most futuristic features on any connected car, including the ability to locate the vehicle, unlock it, and even start its ignition—all from a smartphone app. But if a hacker like Samy Kamkar has hidden a small, $100 box anywhere on your Onstar-equipped car or truck, those same conveniences could fall into unintended hands."

Read An Excerpt Of "Ghost Fleet" By Peter Singer and August Cole

https://www.scribd.com/doc/273166269/Excerpt-From-Ghost-Fleet-By-PW-Singer-and-August-Cole

This program aired on August 3, 2015.

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