[comboy]

Is it really? Theoretically with perfect information you don't need to go to war, you can just compute the result and start with treaty negotiations.

[dash2]

This. There's actually an argument that spying helps peace.

My dad (a journalist, RIP) was once at a UN conference in the 70s, and made the remark to a Chinese official in a light-hearted spirit: "of course you spy on us, we spy on you, and what's wrong with that?" This caused a major row and he was forced to apologize.