I will not comment on this excellent and detailed post, but it did bring up a related topic.

With the speed of action and communication so accelerated due to technology, many formerly policy or political decisions now have to be relegated to a trip-wire procedure. For example, as far as I know, (if I'm wrong somebody please correct me) the last time war was ever formally declared, say by delivering a note to your enemy's embassy, was in 1945 when the USSR declared war on the Japanese Empire. For over 60 years now nations have been conducting Pearl Harbor-type sneak attacks on each other. At best, military action follows some kind of ultimatum, or a prolonged mobilization and period of increasing tension, so it is not a complete surprise. But it is still rather unfair since the aggressor has the option of when and how to initiate hostilities and the defender cannot respond militarily without becoming the aggressor himself.

In this kind of world, secrecy becomes much more important.

In the days of sail, peace treaties had to be negotiated between combatants to take into account the slow speed of intercontinental communications. It was not unusual for battles to be fought months after peace negotiations were concluded, and it was recognized that distant commanders would have no way of knowing they were no longer at war with their opponents, indeed, they might even be allies. Detailed clauses in treaties determined to the nearest minute whether a captured vessel was a legitimate prize of war, or the booty of a pirate.