The Washington Post... In New York City, Panetta called the Internet “a new terrain for warfare.” He also described it as “a battlefield of the future where adversaries can seek to do harm to our country, to our economy and to our citizens.”
It has already become that battlefield, but with little public debate because the United States has been taking the fight to our enemies wrapped in secrecy.
The administration complains about the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians hacking into U.S. computer networks without noting what U.S. electronic warriors are doing.
Panetta said that the Pentagon is spending $3 billion a year on cybersecurity “to retain that cutting-edge capability in the field” and invest “in skilled cyberwarriors needed to conduct operations in cyberspace.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-inevitable-blowback-to-high-tech-warfare/2012/10/15/dc4c1496-147f-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story_1.html