Here's a little more poop on the old "Cyber Pearl Harbor" trope
...as it no doubt transmogrifies into "Electronic 9/11"...
Circa late '90s, for you old Crypt Newsletter fans out there:
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/secret_projects2/project397.htm
Source: Northern Illinois University
http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt/other/harbor.htm
Electronic Pearl Harbor (or "EPH"): a bromide popularized by Alvin Toffler-types, ex-Cold War generals, assorted corporate windbags and hack journalists, to name a few. EPH is meant to signify a nebulous electronic doom always looming over U.S. computer networks. In the real world, it’s a cue for the phrase "Watch your wallet!" since those wielding it are usually doing so in an attempt to convince taxpayers or consumers to fund ill-defined and/or top secret projects said to be aimed at protecting us from it. It has been seen thousands of times since its first sighting in 1993.
--from the Crypt Newsletter "Joseph K"
Guide to Tech Terminology
"Electronic Pearl Harbor" and variations on it, Crypt Newsletter has noticed, are now some of the most overused buzz-phrases in the topic of computer security and information warfare. Using Internet search engines, it is possible to quickly find over 500 citations for the phrase in on-line news archives, military research papers and press releases.
Paradoxically, overuse of the phrase has had quite the opposite effect desired by those who unwittingly wield it.
One can easily imagine p.r. handlers coaching our leaders, generals and corporate salesmen to not forget to say "electronic Pearl Harbor" at least one time just before giving a speech or interview. Since it is a gold-plated cliche, anyone with more sense than it takes to pour piss from a boot can use it as an infallible detector of Chicken Little-like cyber-bull.
Paraphrased: Anyone still caught uttering "electronic Pearl Harbor" in 1999 is either an ex-Cold Warrior trying to drum up anti-terrorism funding through the clever use of propaganda, completely out of it, or a used-car salesman/white-collar crook of some type...