We need to talk about technology and war. For in this war, the traditional instruments of U.S. power overseas -- aircraft, ground troops, carrier battlegroups -- will be materially supplemented by computer operations aimed at disrupting terrorist networks throughout the world. Call it a "cyberwar." If we wage it well, we can save lives and avoid a Vietnam-style quagmire in the Middle East.

The weapons of cyberwar are only now becoming familiar. They include massive denial-of-service assaults against our adversaries. They involve the use of targeted computer viruses or Trojan horse programs to disrupt communications between terrorists, and even radio-frequency jamming of both telecommunications and other electronic systems. U.S. Space Command, the agency that monitors satellite communications, had been developing a cyber attack plan called OPLAN 3600. It is one of many agencies that would doubtless become involved should the president order a cyberattack.

A key part of this campaign will be to cut off funding for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. The problem here is that bin Laden's money is hidden behind a labyrinth of holding companies, brokerages and investment banks spread through dozens of countries. Diplomatic pressure will be intense, but there is little doubt that some financial institutions, depending upon their base of operations, will refuse to cooperate.

Deploying cyberspace technologies to trace these accounts won't be easy. But you may recall that in 1994, a Russian programmer hacked into Citibank and absconded with several million dollars. Hackers can get into a server; the problem is that our government must identify the source of an account and find a legal way to freeze it. Simply withdrawing money is fraught with complications, since a bank could be forced to restore any such stolen funds.

Should it be needed, however, a covert operation to track down these accounts seems feasible. And civilian volunteers have begun to surface to aid the effort. Kim Schmitz, 27, is chief executive of a German security company called Kimvestor. He's legitimate now, but his past includes jail time for various computer crimes such as breaking into corporate networks and stealing telephone calling codes.

Although Schmitz' reputation in Germany is more that of womanizer than warrior, he has issued a call to world governments on his company's Web site. Schmitz claims to have a network of hackers at his command who can fight terrorism. His team has already provided computer security services for Fortune 1000 companies worldwide; now they want to find bin Laden's bank accounts.

We know that terrorist networks are using encryption to shield their e-mails and advanced techniques such as "steganography," which lets users embed messages in innocuous image or audio files. From Hezbollah to Hamas to al-Qaeda, these groups are putting the Internet to work. We need to penetrate their cyberoperations, infuse them with disinformation and destroy their chains of communication.

And if we can use the talent of some in the hacker community who have run afoul of the law, or still elude it, there is historical precedent for this. The invasion of Sicily in 1943 was undertaken using geographical information and ground support provided by Mafiosi in an operation coordinated by crime boss Lucky Luciano, as Robert Lacey described in his biography of mobster Meyer Lansky. Putting hacker talent to work in a constructive way could be a considerable boost to the international effort.

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