ACKNOWLEDGEMENT One might say acknowledgement reveals to the reader something about the personality behind the writer. As a poet suggests, an acknowledgements page acts as an alternate to the content page, a skeleton key to the literary world in which the writer aspires to. The enduring process of thesis writing has been a purposeful experience for professionally and personally. Writing thesis has given the smacking feeling, delivered with an open hand, to wake you up to eventually realize that after years of studying over assortment of courses, you actually have not comprehend anything comprehensively. It is with no doubt my highest gratitude goes to thank Allah SWT, the sole Almighty God who without His permission and decree nothing would be possible, and the Prophet Muhammad Sallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who always has my complete adoration. The indescribable feeling and journey towards developing extraordinary qualities of a human being will not be attained without others’ help, guidance, assistance and more importantly, existence. My indebtedness feeling upon thesis completion would not be actualized without the presence of these respective people: 1. Mr. Teuku Rezasyah and Mr. Makmur Widodo as the best thesis mentors, whom without their valuable time, enduring support, and persistent guidance, I would not be able to sustain this thesis writing. 2. Muzhadi and his significant other, Rosdiana Monoarfa. The thesis is solely dedicated to their persistent and continuous support, love, and encouragement. 3. Significant friends and partners. Zay, Puspa, Ayu, Meydi, Salim, Wibi, Brimoresa, Atin for our consistent togetherness, laughter, and happiness we bring to each others’ lives. Iskandar Shah, for putting up with me during ups and downs, for being my worst distraction, my rhythm, my blues. Jakarta January 20th 2014 THE UNITED STATES CYBERWARFARE STRATEGY TOWARDS IRAN THROUGH OPERATION OLYMPIC GAMES (2006-2013) By ANISSA SYIFA ADRIANA ID 016201000012 A thesis presented to the Faculty of International Relations, Communication, and Law President University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Bachelor Degree in International Relations Major in Strategic and Defense Studies JANUARY 2014 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I declare that this thesis entitled “The United States Foreign Policy towards Iran: Fulfilling Its National Objectives through Cyberwarfare Strategy Covered in Operation Olympic Games (2006-2013)” is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, an original piece of work that has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, to another university to obtain a degree. Jakarta, 19 January 2014 Anissa Syifa Adriana CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background of the Study The pace of global change in international affairs has quickened dramatically during twenty first century. To comprehend thoroughly the fundamental paradigm one needs to fathom the substantial characteristic of International Relations. International Relations have always been dynamic and will continue to be so. The idea of interactions happenings amongst state-actors and non-state actors are complex and compounded. The interactions also follow with vast coherent and developed theories such as stability versus instability, mutual deterrence and balanced arms control, and ideally, national interest versus international security. As written by James E. Dougherty about international politics, “hundreds of actors are pouring into the international arena at the same time... The behavior of individual actors is purposive, but the process as a whole knows no purpose and no overall direction...”1 Power, strategy and foreign policy are some of many tools of a nation-state to pursue its national interests as well as to secure the viability of alliances under such strain. Foreign policy is widely considered as a strategy that a nation possesses in obtaining and securing national interest. Pattern of interactions within foreign policy 1 Andrew M. Scott, “The Logic of International Interaction,” International Studies Quarterly, 21(3) P 438 Retrieved 4 October 2013 1 are a set of processes by which decision makers in one national unit, interact with each other and respond to inputs from the domestic and international environment.2 The globally interconnected world where digital information as well as communications infrastructure known as “cyberspace” has affected the way the U.S. reassesses their current policies. Cyberspace practically touches everything. The nation’s digital infrastructure, which is largely based upon internet, has changed significantly due to the growing threats of cyber-crime operations. The idea of current digital revolution that U.S. and the world are facing has come to the realization that sensitive and confidential information is no longer secure. The unimaginable boundaries of cyberspace marks no edge or limit. United Nations (UN) defines cyberspace as the global system of systems of interconnected computers, communications infrastructures, online conferencing entities, databases, and information utilities generally known as Net.3 Meanwhile, the Department of Defense (DoD) defines cyberspace as the national environment in which digitized information is communicated over computer networks.4 Cyberspace has provided new battlefield for cyberwarfare. Critical cyber-infomation infrastructure and other national infrastructure are every nation’s greatest investment. Cyberwarfare is applicable to every nation-state. The Economist (2010) called cyberwarfare aggression in the “fifth domain”, other than sea; land; sea; air; and space, which many of nation-states start to realize, including the U.S. Another definition of cyberwarfare is symmetric or asymmetric offensive and defensive digital network activity by states or state-like actors, encompassing danger to critical national infrastructure and military systems. It requires a high degree of 2 James E. Dougherty. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. "System, Structure, Agent, and International Relations Theory." Contending Theories of International Relations: A Comprehensive Survey. 5th ed. N.p.: Longman, 2001. p 105. Print. Retrieved 4 Oct 2013 3 Andress, Jason. Winterfeld, Steve. “Cyber Warfare: Techniques, Tactics and Tools for Security Practitioners”. Elsevier 2011. p. 2 4 Joint Publication 3-13 Information Operations. Department of Defense. 13 Feb 2006 2 interdependence between digital networks and infrastructure on the part of the defender, and technological advances on the part of the attacker. It can be understood as a future threat rather than a present one, and fits neatly into the paradigm of Information Warfare. 5 Cyberwarfare is understood as the act of disruption to sabotage with motivation of hacking adversaries’ computer network. The motives are mostly based on political background, seen as the bloodless non-kinetic warfare yet cause similar destruction to critical infrastructure.6 The first major event that took everyone’s attention was the Estonian government cyberwarfare.7 The Estonian government was making a huge leapfrog from a paper-based government to a web-based infrastructure in conducting all the business. As the Estonian government was part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), they then went for help resolving the cyber-attack issue. Hence, Estonia has gone to be one of the leading nations in the arena of Cyber Strategy and the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center. There were plenty of speculations on the Soviet government as the attacker, noting the fact that Estonia was an outcry from Russian population. The next similar cyber-attack happened during the war in Georgia, over South Ossetia. Albeit South Ossetia had achieved its de facto independence from Georgia, international community still perceives South Ossetia as part of Georgia. Therefore, a peacekeeping force was sent to help Russia and Georgia to control the region. In 2008, Georgia moved forces into South Ossetia to quell the separatist movement. Russian then counterattacked to protect the South Ossetia citizens. In the following g weeks, Georgian government’s computer network was then received series of attacks 5 Shane M. Coughlan, “Is There a Common Understanding of What Constitutes Cyberwarfare?,” The University of Birmingham School of Politics and International Studies, 30 September 2003, p. 2. 66 Sanger, David E. (1 June 2012). "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 June 2013 3 such as denial of service attacks against the government computer network where spamming email flooded the system. Many of intelligence officials consider cyberwarfare in the U.S. as a larger threat than terrorism.8 In 2010, the U.S. worked with Israel to launch cyber-attacks on Iran targeting Iran’s uranium enrichment plant, Natanz, using a worm known as Stuxnet. 9 This was believed by many as an ‘illegal’ attempt to hassle Iranian nuclear program. Stuxnet is considered to be the first-known worm designed to target real- world infrastructure such as power stations, water plants and industrial units. Stuxnet’s complexity was so superior that it was claimed by researchers to only have been written by a “nation-state”.10 Symantec, a Belarus-based security firm, stated that there have been more infections targeting Iran than anywhere else in the world.11 Stuxnet –code-named Olympic Games— had been initiated and designed to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear program in early 2006 during the George W. Bush administration. President George W. Bush approved $300m on joint covert projects aimed at