Linux in Defense: An Urgent Threat to National Security
Dan O'Dowd, Green Hills Software founder and CEO, today issued the white paper "Linux in Defense: An Urgent Threat to National Security." This paper can be downloaded from http://www.ghs.com/linux/threat.html.
This is the fifth white paper in a series authored by O'Dowd to address the objections raised by the Linux community to his April 8 speech at Net-Centric Operations Industry Forum (NCOIF). In his NCOIF speech, O'Dowd warned that the insecure nature of Linux and the open source process used to develop it should rule Linux out of consideration for defense applications. In the white paper issued today, O'Dowd explains why this threat posed by the use of Linux in defense systems is urgent and why immediate action is needed in order to protect the integrity of U.S. defenses.
A synopsis of O'Dowd's NCOIF speech can be read at http://www.ghs.com/news/20040408_AFEI.html. The prior four white papers in this series are archived at http://www.ghs.com/linux.html.
"Many major defense programs are planning to rely on Linux for their security, including the Army's Future Combat System (FCS) and the Global Information Grid, which will connect all future military systems into a single network," O'Dowd said. "If the security of these systems is compromised there will be dire consequences.
