Collateral Damage?
Lets stipulate that a massive cyber-attack on the US infrastructure is possible, and that some entity or other is crazy enough to perpetrate it. The US is not an isolated island, but intimately connected with the global economy, and, in many cases, physically connected via roads, air and sea lanes, and pipelines transporting various types of goods. If the US economy went TUD, the world-wide repercussions would be immense, even if there were no deliberate counter-attack by US resources. I can easily envision a serious depression in Europe, which could spread east into Asia. Without US purchasers, a lot of Chinese-manufactured goods would sit at the docks. Our military presence in places like South Korea injects large amounts of capital into their economy. Non-US airlines fly into US airports in large numbers every day. Not just passengers, either. A lot of that air traffic is critical components for our systems, and for others, as well.
These are just few ideas that occurred to me; Im sure, that with a bit more thought, we could all come up with a lot more. It reminds me of the analogy someone used for the Cold War. Were in a locked room, and we have a couple of grenades. I can kill the other guy with my grenade, but Im going to have a hard time dodging the shrapnel.
