By Doug Ward

After World War I, France constructed the Maginot Line. It was a 450-mile long structure of iron and concrete fortifications and barriers deemed impenetrable. Aside from the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line remains the largest military structure ever built. It was first envisioned after the end of WWI in 1919, the concept was approved in the mid 1920s, and construction started in 1928 and was largely completed in 1938.

The Line did not go all the way to the English Channel or along the entire border with Belgium. The strategy was based on the assumption that the terrain in the Ardennes was too rough to bring armies through and the French army could protect against an invasion through Belgium.

On May 10th, German panzer divisions basically drove around the Line and on June 22 France surrendered. In addition to the design failure leaving the Line exposed on the ends, the fortification was envisioned from a war where horses and mules hauled supplies and pulled artillery behind advancing soldiers.

The recent bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran was a stunning technological and logistical feat. However, was it nothing more than a 21st century flying high-tech Maginot Line that did little more than inflict some temporary damage on Iran’s own Maginot Line aspirations.

For years many of Americas’ leading military and security leaders have been warning the nature of warfare is changing. The biggest threat now is not a nuclear strike but rather a Cyber Pearl Harbor, a term coined by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

Some of the new means of warfare almost sound silly. For example, Ukraine took out 50% of Russia’s heavy bomber fleet using swarms of drones that are manufactured in distributed factories across the country at the rate of 100,000 to 200,000 a month for less than $400 each. To the extent they can be detected in flight they look like swarms of birds and can’t be shot down. But silly aside, the drones are based on 21st century microtechnology and who knows what is yet possible.

Every day 24/7 American cyber professionals are in warfare with state-sponsored and criminal cyber soldiers attacking our most vulnerable cyber infrastructure. In fiscal year 2023, U.S. federal agencies reported over 32,000 cyber security incidents.

On the day of the DOGE “you’re going to be fired if you don’t resign” email, one agency was working long hours with staff shortages and outdated equipment trying to recover from a Chinese hack. Since then it has been reported that up to 27% of federal cybersecurity professionals have been terminated or resigned. The leading reason for resigning has been seeing the cyber train wreck coming and not having the staff or technology to stop it.

Meanwhile, Iran’s cyber warfare capability is known to be very well developed and has grown significantly in the past decade. So while there are victory dances in Washington, I hope the celebrants are keeping some candles and food storage handy.

Doug Ward is a Longmont resident.