Computer Science 39K: IT (Information Technology) Goes to War!
Professor Randy H.
Katz
Computer Science Division
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-1776
Course Description
Necessity drives invention. In this seminar, we will examine the
interwined historical development of information technology, broadly
defined as computing, communications, and signal processing, in the
20th Century within the
context of modern warfare and national defense. Topics include:
cryptography/cryptanalysis and the development of the computer; command
and control systems and the development of the Internet; the war of
attrition and the development
of the mathematics of operations research; military communications and
the development of the cellular telephone system; precision munitions
and
the development of the Global Positioning System. While we will
endeavor
to explain these developments in technical terms at a tutorial level,
our
main focus is to engage the students in the historical sweep of
technical
development and innovation as driven by national needs, and whether
this
represents a continuing framework for the 21st Century.
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." Plato
"It is well that war is so terrible--we should grow too fond of
it." Robert E. Lee
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you."
Trotsky
'War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to
lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one
is surprised that everyone has lost.' - Karl Kraus
"He who does not remember history is condemned to repeat it." Santayana
Course Location and Grading
Room 310 Soda Hall, Wednesday, 4-6 PM
2 Units, Pass/Fail based on attendance, seminar participation, one
group paper and presentation (analyzing a world insurgency) plus one
individual research paper (on a topic of the student's choice to be
negotiated with the instructor).
Discussions will be augmented with selected video presentations to
provide context for the technologies and events being discussed.
In addition, we make extensive use of group "games" to emerse the
participants into the issues being discussed.
Students really enjoy these, but your active participation is
essential; you get out of this course what you put in.
Tentative Course Agenda
23 January 08
- Seminar Introduction, Course Mechanics, and Getting Acquainted
- Discussion of Students' Background and Experience
- Why Study Warfare?
- The Horror of Modern Warfare: Screening of "Saving Private
Ryan", opening Omaha Beach sequence
- Discussion of Universal Conscription vs. the All-Volunteer
Army
- Brief Introduction to next week's Naval Game: Early 20th
Century
Strategic Decision Making
- Read for Next Week: Notes on the Naval War Game [pdf]
WARNING 16 MByte file/34 pages long!
30 January 08
- Theme: Naval Warfare, Military Planning, (Naval) Arms Race,
and
the Role of Technological Surprise
- Historical Example: Late 19th/Early 20th Century
- German and British Naval Policy: the First Arms Race
- Naval Strategies at the Outbreak of WWI
- Threat of the Submarine: Cheap Total War
- Lessons of Jutland for Large-scale Ship-to-Ship
engagements in the 20th Century
- Discussion Questions
- How Should Germany Build its Fleet, and What Should
Britain Do?
- What can be Learned from 1914-1918, particularly Jutland?
- IT Issues
- Communications, Coordination, Intelligence, Tracking
- Insurgency Project
Description, Due 19 March
- Brief introduction to next week's Radio Game: coordinating
teams via radio communications
- Background briefing: UK vs. Germany at the turn of the 20th
Century [pdf]
- Readings: Battle of Jutland
6 February 08
- Theme: Tactical Communications
- Minilecture on radio communications, discipline, limitations,
jamming, etc.
- Physics of Radio: LW, SW, HF, VHF, atmospheric skip vs.
line of sight, shared channels
- Group exercise: the Radio Game
- Discussion Questions:
- Is hearing as good as seeing?
- Is radio communications as good as face-to-face
communications?
- What is the effect of adversarial intermediaries in the
middle of communications?
- Brief Screening from the film "A Bridge Too Far"--The
Problems of the Radios
- Brief introduction to air warfare
- Brief introduction to the concept of radar and air
interception
- Background briefing: Development of radio and background on
the radio game [pdf]
- Readings:
Radio, Electronic Warfare
13 February 08
Professor Katz traveling, Class cancelled!
20 February 08
- Theme: Strategic Bombing Offense
- Minilecture on Radar and Strategic Air Warfare
in WWII
- Radar: Radio Detection and Ranging
- Bombing (circa 1940)
- Engaging aircraft circa 1940
- The Battle of the Beams: Electronic Warfare
and Counter Measures
- Brief
screening from the film "Battle of Britain"--German Offensive and the
Role of Radar
- Discussion Questions
- What does bombing do?
- Is it effective?
- Is it cost-effective?
- What are the IT issues involved in bombing?
- What strategies might be appropriate for addressing these
issues?
- The Air Warfare Game (Battle of Britain Version) [pdf]
- Readings:
Radar,
Electronic Navigation Systems,
Strategic Air Offensive,
Thousand Bomber Raids,
Blitz,
Fighters and Bombers
27 February 08
5 March 08
- Theme: Battle
of the
Atlantic and Cryptography
- Brief
Screening from the film "Das Boot"--The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
- Brief Screening from the film "Enigma"--the Ultra Secret and
the Cracking of the German Codes
- Discussion
- Naval War of Attrition: Submarines, Convoys, and Finding
the Needle in the Haystack
- Tactical, strategic significance of decrypts
- How encryption works
- How decryption works
- Codebreaking
- Group Exercise: Breaking a coded message [pdf]
- Brief introduction to the Cold War Game
- Read the following web sites on missile technology and the
Cuba Missile Crisis:
12 March 08
- Theme: ICBMs and Ballistic Missle Offense and Defense
- Brief Screening of the film "Thirteen Days"--a part
fiction/part fact account of the crisis
- Minilectures [pdf]:
- Historical background: the German V-1 and V-2 weapons
- The Post-WWII World: The Cold War and Mutually Assured
Destruction
- The Physics of Ballistic Missile Interception and
Destruction
- Group Exercise: The Cold War Game
- Escalating Tensions Modeled on the Cuban Missle Crisis
19 March 08
- Theme: Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency
- Brief Screening of the film "The Battle of Algiers"--Algerian
Insurgency and French Counter-Insurgency
- Minilectures [pdf]:
- Historical Background on the Theory of Small Wars
(Peninsular War, Boer War, Philippines War)
- Strategies for Counter-Insurgency
- Student reports on 20th Century Insurgencies
- Group 1: IRA insurgency against Great Britain in Northern
Ireland, from approximately 1970 to the present;
- Group 2: PLO insurgency against Israel in Israel, Lebanon
and the Palestinian Territories, from 1967-present;
- Group 3: FLN insurgency against. France in Algeria, from
1954-1962;
- Group 4: Mujahideen insurgency against Soviet Union in
Afghanistan, from 1979-1989;
- Shuffle groups: each must prepare a set of counter insurgency
strategies for coming insurgency in given area WITHOUT seeing attackers
strategies.
- Group 1: Counter-insurgency strategy for the USSR
- Group 2: for France
- Group 3: for Israel
- Group 4: for UK
- Questions for Discussion
- How would you modify your strategies/counter strategies in
the face of what you know about the other side?
- What works for insurgents?
- What works for counter insurgents?
- Brief introduction to the Islandia Game
2 April 08
- Theme: Counter-Insurgency Tactics/Peacemaking and Peacekeeping
- Brief screening of the film "Black Hawk Down"--High tech vs.
low tech in peacekeeping operations
- Group Exercise: The Islandia Game
- American forces vs. a popular uprising in a Third World
country
- Questions for Discussion
- Rules of engagement in modern conflict
- How effective is America's high technology arsenal?
- Readings: U. S. Army Counterinsurgency Manual
9 April 08
- Theme: International Terrorism
- Final essay (done individually), due 30 April: Specification.
- Minilecture: Distinction between terrorism and
insurgency
- Examples:
- IRA bombing campaign, campaign against Israeli state,
- ANC non-military campaign, RAF, Japanese RAF?,
- Money
- Arms
- Skills
- Counter-terrorism
- Discuss why convoys are so powerful (active defense)
- Is an active defense against terrorism possible?
- What offensive strategies are available?
- How significant is intelligence?
- Readings: The Anarchist's Cookbook,
Book Text
16 April 08
- Theme: International Terrorism
- Discussion: Assessing US vulnerabilities to terrorism
- From the view of an attacker who wishes to do
damage to US infrastructure
- From the view of a defender who wants to defend America
from attack
- What is the role of Information Technology?
- Discuss September 11 and speculate on why there have been
so few serious terrorist attacks on US soil
- Group Exercise: Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism
- Group 1: Plan a major terrorist campaign on US soil,
intention: forcing the US to disengage from the UN (secret from 2)
- Group 2: Capture and disarm group 1 (identify group,
funders, etc.)
- Round 1: g1 plans, g2 plans
- Round 2: g1 plans or acts, g2 ditto
- Round 3: g1 plans or acts, g2 ditto
- Readings: International Terrorism and the War on Terrorism
24 April 08
- Theme: Precision Targeting plus Special Forces
- Minilectures
- Global Positioning Systems
- Standoff Weaponry and UAVs
- Challenge: Missle Defense and Hunting the SCUDs
- Information Technology and the First Iraqi War: the Triumph
of Smart Precision Weapons
- Readings: Precision Targeting plus Special Forces
30 April 08
- Theme: Surveillance and Remote Sensing
- Minilectures
- Technology of Spy Planes and Spy Satellites
- Space Imaging, SAR (Synthetic Aperature Radar), iSAR
(Inverse SAR), and MTI (Moving Terminal Indicator)
- Information Technology and the War in Afganistan and the
Second Iraqi War
- Successes and Failures of the American High Technology
Arsenal
- Readings: Satellite Imagery
7 May 08
- Presentation and Discussion of Student Course Projects
- Course Wrap-up, Summary, and Evaluation
- End of Semester Celebration
Last Updated 7 February 2008, randy@cs.Berkeley.edu