For most of American history, national defense has been understood geographically.There was American territory and foreign territory, borders to defend, military installations to protect and American forces stationed around the world.
Even as warfare evolved, the basic concept remained relatively simple: the United States had physical assets that needed protection from foreign adversaries.Technology has fundamentally changed that calculation.Today, some of the most important assets supporting America's economy, military and national security do not fit neatly within traditional definitions of territory or defense infrastructure.
They are data centers, cloud-computing systems, telecommunications networks and other digital infrastructure that may be privately owned and located thousands of miles from the United States.The border of the next war may not be a line on a map.It may be a data center.OUR ENEMIES FOUND A WEAKNESS IN ESSENTIAL TECHNOLOGY.
WE MUST FIX IT … FASTThe recent conflict with Iran should force Washington to take that possibility seriously.In March, Iranian strikes damaged Amazon Web Services data centers and infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, disrupting cloud infrastructure and creating problems with power and connectivity.
Reuters reported that the damage contributed to service disruptions and an extended recovery process.Then, in April, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps publicly claimed that it had targeted an Amazon cloud-computing facility in Bahrain.Aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on a Navy 5th Fleet installation in Bahrain is shown above.
Iran also attacked an Amazon AWS facility there.(Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)That distinction is important.
This was not simply a commercial facility caught in the crossfire.Iran publicly identified American commercial computing infrastructure as a target.8 EVERYDAY THINGS THAT WOULD QUIT WORKING WITHOUT DATA CENTERSThat should be a warning for Washington.
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