Just as a system is more than the sum of its parts, there is more to a Network than nodes, hubs, and connections. Defined by Kevin Kelly as ‘organic behavior in technological matrix', a network produces effects as well as conveys information. A network can be a force-multiplier, as in net-centric warfare or networked terrorism. It can produce unintended consequences, like the cascading effects that cause an electrical grid to go down, or the auto-immune responses that can kill as well as cure. Networks are critical to media, cultural and economic flows. Post-Cold War, post-911, we have witnessed the emergence of competing sources of power, heteropolar networks, in which different actors are able to produce profound global effects through interconnectivity. Varying in identity, interests, and strength, networked actors gain advantage through the broad bandwidth of information technology, using networked IT to traverse political, economic, religious, and cultural boundaries, changing, for instance, not only how war is fought and peace is made, but making it ever more difficult to maintain the very distinction of war and peace. The ‘West' might enjoy an advantage in surveillance, media, and military networks; but the ‘Rest,' including fundamentalist terrorist groups, criminal gangs, non-governmental organizations, and anti-globalization activists, have tapped the political potential of networked technologies of information collection, transmission, and storage. Does the potential risk posed by negative synergy, cascading effects, and unintended consequences outweigh the actual benefits of networks?