Cuba, Cyberwar and Toilet Paper
Tracey Eaton writes at Along the Malecón – the Malecón is the promenade in Havana where everything happens. I know this because Mrs. Ubiwar told me, after her visit there in 2007. I mentioned in an InfoBore post the other day a story about Cuba developing an offensive cyber capability. Tracey adds more flesh to the bones of this story in a recent post [I've added a couple of links in the first sentence]:
Bauta is a haven for artists and musicians. It’s also home to a former Soviet listening post called Lourdes.
In October 2001, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Lourdes would be shut down. At one time, as many as 1,500 Russian technicians, engineers and military personnel worked at the base, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
After Lourdes closed, Cuban officials opened a school on the site – the University of Information Sciences or Universidad de Ciencias Informaticas.
CubaNews has touted the school as “the No. 1 hub in Cuba for information technology learning, research and software production.”
In March, La Nueva Cuba, an online newspaper, reported that “Russian personnel has been in Cuba for several months working on modernizing SIGINT operations in the old Lourdes surveillance and monitoring facility.”
The Web site said the supposed renovation was:
…part of a project of rearming and modernization of Russian armed forces and the goal of completion by 2011. The new operations could include military sections dedicated to hacking or computer systems espionage with a capacity to neutralize U.S. military networks…
Then last week, an opinion piece appeared in Miami Herald. The headline: Cuba capable of waging a cyberwar.
These reports are just thrown out there little or no evidence to back them up. It reminds me of the biological weapons campaign. Remember those headlines? Cuba capable of waging biological attacks. But I never saw any evidence that Cuba was actually planning or doing any kind of biological strike.
So now it’s going to be a cyberwar. How realistic is that? I mean, the same country that has a toilet paper shortage is suddenly going to wage a cyberwar?
It seems some people want to make sure that Cuba is always seen as a threat, an enemy nation – with no toilet paper in sight.
A dubious conclusion, given that the Miami Herald is unlikely to be taking an anti-Cuban line, given its demography, although I know nothing about Floridian media politics. The original article to which Tracey refers is by Manuel Cereijo, a professor at the University of Miami, and expert in Cuban telecoms. He may well have an axe to grind, I simply don’t know, but his article seems to be well-informed and based on substantial research.
I guess this just flags up how little we know about national cyber capabilities. Cuba hasn’t been singled out here, or at least, I don’t think they have. It may an oblique way of having a dig at the Russians, but the US hasn’t exactly been shy in discussing its own capabilities recently.
Tim,
Thanks for mentioning Along the Malecon on your blog. Just so you know, I find Manuel Cereijo’s research intriguing and worthy, and I’ve quoted his work in past stories. See this story, for instance, “Cuba, China quietly building partnership.” (Link: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y01/may01/09e5.htm).
The point I was trying to make in yesterday’s post is that Manuel’s story in the Herald did not give any evidence that Cuba was planning any cyber attacks. I’m sure a lot of countries are capable of carrying out cyber attacks and much more, but that’s not the same as doing an attack.
In a similar way, former U.S. officials Roger Noreiga and John Bolton have warned of Cuba’s biological weapons capability, warnings that were not supported by any evidence that Cuba was actually doing anything.
I’ve written about those warnings – I think it’s a legitimate story. But I think also it’s fair to raise questions about whether such suspicions are grounded in fact.
Here’s a link to a 2003 story I wrote about biotechnology in Cuba: http://havanajournal.com/culture/entry/a_shot_in_the_arm_cuba_biotech_industry_raises_hope_suspicion/
And here’s a link to commentary about media coverage of that issue: http://www.cubatruth.com/updates/The%20Media.htm).
If you believe that U.S. officials – or researchers – are not capable of misleading or misinforming the public, then you might want to look at the Center for Public Integrity Web site. One of its investigations concluded that “President Bush and seven top officials made 935 false statements leading-up to the Iraq war.” (link: http://www.publicintegrity.org/projects/entry/276/).
Best,
Tracey Eaton
Hi Tracey,
Thanks for taking the trouble to comment here. Your post was very useful actually, and certainly, as I said, adds more substance to an issue about which I know little, i.e. Cuba. Just for the record, I certainly don’t think that public officials, academics, etc, do not deliberately mislead people, or misrepresent situations, or distort facts. Like you, I agree that every story needs to be qualified somehow. Surf around Ubiwar for a while and you’ll see the critical stance I generally take.
I think, in the case of Cereijo, I’d err on the side of a general acceptance of his stance. I don’t know his work, although will take the trouble now to do some research. He was writing an op-ed, so we can’t expect him to have gone into much detail, and we also don’t know how it was edited. One could argue that you – although it wasn’t my intention to criticse you – could have presented evidence for your own view. It’s too easy to assume that everything you read is inherently biased for covert political reasons, or part of a wider conspiracy. Writing is necessarily subjective but some people do try and remain as objective as possible.
On that note, perhaps the Miami Herald was just capitalising on the current cyberwar theme, so popular in the press and government. I, myself, also work in this field, so a story about Cuba’s possible capabilities was bound to pique my attention. That’s what led me to your blog. As I say in the piece, most of us just don’t have access to sufficient information to know quite what states are up to in this area, so pieces like Cereijo’s are just another lead in trying to piece together the story. As was your post, I have to say – I’m more informed after reading it.
Anything else you find out about Cuba’s cyber capabilities, let me know!
Cheers,
Tim
Tim,
You’re certainly right that not a lot is known about Cuba’s cyber capabilities. I’m certainly no expert on that. But you know, some researchers dedicate their lives to studying what’s going on in Cuba and they come up with opposing or conflicting views. Cuba is a controversial, complicated place. And that’s why I think it’s hazardous to accept the views of someone just because he is an expert. I’d rather err on the side of not knowing the answer. And in fact, even though I’ve lived in Cuba and written about the country for 15 years, there’s more I don’t know about the country than I know. Still, some Web sites are full of interesting information. Secretos de Cuba is one of many sites with interesting tidbits about Cuba’s armed forces. CUBAPOLIDATA is another useful site. And I will let you know if I stumble across anything interesting about Cuba’s cyber capabilities. Best, Tracey
Tracey,
Great, thanks. I wish my Spanish was better!
Well, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of living in a country and not knowing nearly enough about it. After nearly 40 years of living (mostly) in the UK, there’s an awful lot going on here I have no clue about. Every day, it seems, I hear about some part of government I’d never heard of before, for example.
Your observation about the hazards of accepting someone’s views are also correct. Politics ensures that ‘experts’ are used to (dis)prove almost anything. Academics are by no means exempt from this, of course. Theory of knowledge, epistemology, burden of proof, etc – however you look at it, an uncritical acceptance of any statement is unwise.
I hope you don’t think I’m saying that I’m siding with Cereijo, an academic of whom I’d never heard until a couple of days ago. My one mild criticism was of the assertion that what he wrote formed part of the established discourse of Cuba-bashing that you rightly say is endemic in the US. I didn’t interpret his piece as that, particularly, as I wrote, the US and its allies are developing – or already have – similar capabilities.
It would be excellent if you kept an eye on this issue!