Executive Warmaking Authority and Offensive Cyber Operations.pdf

EXECUTIVE WARMAKING AUTHORITY AND OFFENSIVE CYBER OPERATIONS: CAN EXISTING LEGISLATION SUCCESSFULLY CONSTRAIN PRESIDENTIAL POWER? Eric Lorber On March 19, 2011, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”) launched strike aircraft and tomahawk cruise missiles against Libya in the opening phases of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the military intervention meant 1 to stem Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on Libya’s civilian population. The purpose of these initial strikes was to destroy Libya’s command and control facilities and its air defense network so that allied warplanes could fly uncontested through Libyan airspace and attack marauding government 2 forces at will. This strategy—seizing air superiority in the early stages of a military conflict and then proceeding to attack the enemy’s ground forces and command systems—has been a hallmark of U.S. military operations in 3 the post-Cold War era. Behind the scenes, however, the Obama administration and Pentagon officials considered heavily modifying this battle-tested approach with a J.D. Candidate, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Ph.D Candidate, Duke University Department of Political Science. I would like to thank Professor William Burke-White, Professor Matthew Waxman, Professor Ryan Goodman, Elan DiMaio, and Amara Levy- Moore for their helpful comments and keen editorial eyes. I would also like to thank the editorial staff of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Const