collateral damage

Definitions

1. 1

   Damage to civilian property or civilian casualties that is the unintended result of…

   Damage to civilian property or civilian casualties that is the unintended result of military operations.

   • A certain amount of collateral damage and destruction to the surrounding environment has always been viewed as a necessary but generally undesirable by-product of military conflict.
   • But the most critical tension concerns the need to balance minimal own-casualties and low collateral damage with operational effectiveness.
   • And, most importantly, there may come a point when, by taking measures to improve the security of the attacking force, the increase in the expected collateral damage outweighs the anticipated military advantage.
2. 2

   Harm to innocent people that results from policy decisions.

   • Neoliberals readily admit that economic liberalization causes some dislocations, but they view such collateral damage as necessary for the longer term gains of increased productivity and efficiency.
   • Merely the existence of collateral damage – whether in war or in a managerial situation - is symptomatic to me of misdirected power and synonymous with a failing in the exercise of power.
3. 3

   Unintended victims of an attack targeted at someone or something else.

   • The possibility of false claims exists with kinetic attacks as well, but claims about collateral damage from a cyberattack are likely to be even more difficult to refute.

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