Report Questions Feds' 'Alarmist Rhetoric' About Cyberthreats

The "alarmist rhetoric" surrounding the potential for "catastrophic cyberthreats" has strong parallels with the inflated threats used to justify the lead-in to the Iraq War.

That assertion comes from "Loving The Cyber Bomb?" a report released on Wednesday by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a nonprofit think tank that promotes free-market and deregulation policies.

In particular, the report draws parallels between the justifications for the Iraq War--links between al Queda and Saddam Hussein's government, as well as its being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons--and the current rationale for greater government involvement in private-sector security, which is that a major critical infrastructure attack could bring the United States to its knees.

But while Iraq had backed terrorists and possessed chemical and biological "weapons of mass destruction," there was never any verifiable evidence to support the more serious claims.

Read the full article here.

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