AT CYBERDAWN WE SLEPT

The recent WikiLeaks debacle, which will result in American, allied and Afghan deaths, drives home how inadequate our antique laws on war are in the new millennium.

Even regarding physical acts of terrorism, our laws lag grotesquely — hence the repeated delays in bringing the world’s most vicious butchers to trial.

It’s as if, in the age of the automobile, we relied on traffic laws from horse-and-buggy days. Absent appropriate legal codes, our government turns to lawyers without laws.

The lawyers, in turn, fish through laws governing yesteryear’s concerns — and apply them restrictively to keep their departments out of the headlines.

And the cyberassaults go on, 24/7. Security leaks haunt the Internet (and our amoral media). Terrorists kill, then sue us. In the first case, we take our beatings and slap on bandages. In the second, we huff, puff and do nothing. In the third case, an apprehended terrorist gets better medical care than an out-of-work American.

Even the civil laws and military codes we do have on the books are not enforced. If found guilty, that Army private who allegedly passed over 90,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks should get the "full Rosenberg," a shortened life and a hot exit. Instead, he’ll do a few years at most — at most — then get a book contract. (Can’t wait for the movie!)

As for Julian Assange, who released a deluge of sensitive operational data to America’s enemies, he’ll probably pay no price at all for any deaths his actions cause. Instead, he’ll rake in speaking fees.

Our own cyberwarriors in the Pentagon and the intelligence community face no end of frustration as they try to defend us. We have superb, conscientious, capable officers working the problem. But the absence of laws to deter enemies or facilitate retaliation not only ties our hands behind our backs, but chains our ankles, too.

That’s a key reason why Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III just went public about a massive cyberinvasion of military computers in 2008, when a foreign agent used a flash drive to slip malware into a military laptop. The goal was to steal and corrupt military plans and secrets.

The attacker suffered no meaningful consequences. We knew who did it, but couldn’t do a thing. No laws.
And that attack was small change, compared to what an all-out cyberassault on our nation might do, from shutting down power supplies and transportation networks, to blacking out communications — e-bombing us back to the 19th century, if not the Stone Age.

As for our military itself, it simply could not function today without its computers: Aircraft wouldn’t fly, gunnery systems wouldn’t work and we’d lose global comms. It no longer takes lead or high explosives to kill. If attacked, should we strike back with cyber means? Counterattack asymmetrically? Hit the aggressor physically? In the absence of updated laws of war for a new millennium, our military and our intelligence agencies are condemned to playing defense. It’s a prescription for an eventual catastrophe.

And what about the likes of Assange? Nothing will happen to an activist who helps terrorists identify, track and slaughter those who stand up against Islamist fanatics.

Who’s AWOL in these undeclared wars against us? Congress. That’s who makes our laws, folks. But Congress has ignored these life-and-death issues, leaving our defenders out on the end of a creaking limb.

Instead, legislators in both parties play for short-term political advantage, while our enemies act with impunity. If a cyber-Pearl Harbor — on a far-greater scale than that savage attack — hits our country, don’t blame our military or call it an intelligence failure.

It’ll be a congressional failure.

Our military and our spooks know who the bad guys are. They could strike back. But, contrary to the myths of the left, they aren’t rogues. They operate within our existing laws. Congress has to empower them.

When should a cyberattack trigger devastating retaliation? When can an Internet accomplice to terror be placed on a kill-or-capture list? What is the proper judicial forum for putting terrorists on trial? It’s the duty of Congress to decide.

To update an old line describing Pearl Harbor, "At cyberdawn, we slept."
Ralph Peters’ latest book is "Endless War."