The Pentagon has turned to the private sector, universities as well as computer-game companies for the previously unreported venture, dubbed Plan X, marking a fresh phase in American military operations in cyberspace, The Washington Post reported Thursday. 

The plan X project has grown out of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that plays a key role in harnessing computer power to help the US military wage war more effectively, according to the report. 

Cyberwarfare, a five-year, $110 million research program, conjures images of smoking servers, downed electrical systems and exploding industrial plants, according to US daily. 

However, it adds, military authorities state that cyber weapons would probably support conventional warfare by “blinding an enemy to an impending airstrike, for example, or disabling a foe’s communications system during battle.” 

The program will begin acquiring proposals this summer and among its objectives are the creation of an “advance map that details the entirety of cyberspace - a global domain that includes tens of billions of computers and other devices - and updates itself continuously,” says the report. “Such a map would help commanders identify targets and disable them using computer code delivered through the Internet or other means.” 

Plan X, according to the report, also envisions the development of technology that enables a commander to plan, launch and control cyber attacks. 

Cyberwar experts, however, worry about unintended consequences of attacks that may damage the flow of electricity to civilian homes or hospitals. Other experts emphasize that they expect to see power and transportation systems that support military objectives. 

The architects of the cyberwarfare project hope to develop systems that would offer commanders the ability to conduct speed-of-light attacks and counterattacks using preplanned scenarios that do not involve human operators manually typing in code - a process considered much too slow. 

Military officials, says The Post, compare this to flying an airplane on autopilot along predetermined routes. 

It makes sense “to take this on right now,” said Richard M. George, a former National Security Agency cyber defense official, quoted in the report. “Other countries are preparing for a cyberwar. If we’re not pushing the envelope in cyber, somebody else will.” 

MFB/GHN/MA