Information Technology and Terrorism –
The Impact of Emerging Commercial Capabilities

Advances in commercial information technology and the rising threat of global terrorism are two of the most important influences on the world's nations and their economies. Computing and communication services offered in the commercial marketplace can now provide capabilities with global reach that formerly were available only to the most modern military organizations. Mobile user services are offered through a number of technical approaches, including third generation (3G) mobile telephones and broadband wireless networks based on the 802.11 standards, and these services have expanded from simple voice and text to a wide range of applications previously constrained to static networks and desktop computers. Any group of users with sufficient funding can purchase off-the-shelf capabilities for network enabled operations, including video teleconferencing, shared white boarding, image capture and dissemination, and robust information protection.

The result is an "information battlespace" in which the playing field for the nations and their terrorist opponents has been leveled to a large degree. Since the governments and their military and commercial sectors are major players in the war on terrorism, it is essential that they understand how they can make best use of the new and emerging technologies while denying critical capabilities to terrorist organizations. Cooperation among the military and commercial sectors and across the nations will be necessary to reach this understanding so that appropriate actions can be taken in the commercial marketplace to steer technology in ways that are most productive and supportive of peace, stability, and prosperity.

CITMO 2005 is a venue for discussion of the implications of emerging information technologies and for identifying the way to collaborate, to assure that this technology adds to the quality of life and at the same time supports the war against terrorism. Participants will represent all sectors and will discuss both current systems and future plans. The discussions will be unclassified and will emphasize commonality in approaches that can benefit the government, military, commercial, and private sectors.