DailyTech - US Air Force Creates Cyberspace Command

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Science US Air Force Creates Cyberspace Command
Brandon Hill (Blog) - November 2, 2006 2:59 PM

21 comment(s) - last by jak3676.. on Nov 6 at 10:06 AM

The US military has a new wing of defense against cyber war

The United States Air Force is adding a new division to its formidable ranks. The Air Force, which already maintains such units as the Space Command and Air Combat Command, is going to institute the new Cyberspace Command.

"The capital cost of entry to the cyberspace domain is low. The threat is, that a foe can mass forces to weaken the network that supports our operations," said Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne. According to Wynn, terrorist organizations are using increasingly more sophisticated technology and weaponry to advance their causes and the United States must be better prepared to counter these advances.

As a result, the Cyberspace Command will be in charge of protecting the United States against vulnerabilities that include satellite communications, radar and navigational jamming, and Internet-based financial transactions. "This new way of war is data-dependent. We need to protect our data while detecting adversary data and then deny, disrupt, dissuade or destroy the source of that data or transmission as appropriate," said Wynn.

The Cyberspace Command will be based at the 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The 8th Air Force first gained wide acclaim for its daylight bombing campaigns of Europe during World War II. Currently, the 8th Air Force employs a workforce of 41,000 and operates such aircraft as the B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress (aka B.U.F.F) and the E-3C Sentry.

The Cyberspace Command will be run by Lt. Gen. Robert Elder who will ensure that all of the proper resources are acquired to make the new unit a success. "There will be careers and a strong future for the airmen whose work is in the cyberspace domain. Air Force military and civilian experts are working now forming the career and school paths that will ensure a full career with full opportunities for advancement to the highest ranks of the Air Force," said Wynn.

The Air Force is on tap to first seek funding for the new Cyberspace Command during fiscal year 2009.

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Luaghing all the way

By Hydrofirex on 11/2/2006 4:21:03 PM , Rating: 2

I love the story image!

HfX

RE: Luaghing all the way

By Knish on 11/2/2006 4:25:14 PM , Rating: 2

Laughing man for sure. :) Is the world becoming more like GITS or what? (in more ways than one)

I sort of thought the US already had this, but it totally makes sense. I'm a little surprised it's not a branch of the DOD or Army, but if you think about it that's how other branches of the miliary start anyway.

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RE: Luaghing all the way

By ChugokuOtaku on 11/3/2006 8:22:56 AM , Rating: 2

I'm sure section 9's got a hand in this

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RE: Luaghing all the way

By jonmcc33 on 11/4/2006 5:39:20 PM , Rating: 2

Branches are part of the DoD. The Army wouldn't be able to handle IT related stuff. They are all grunt work last time I checked.

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RE: Luaghing all the way

By One43637 on 11/2/2006 7:38:54 PM , Rating: 2

doh, that was my forum avatar for the longest time too. =/ guess i have to look for a new one.

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Air Force?

By UserDoesNotExist on 11/2/2006 6:02:07 PM , Rating: 2

Cool story, but why the Air Force? Admittedly they're the most "high-tech" of the services branches, but this seems more like a job for one of the various military intelligence agencies.

I wonder if/when they're hiring.

RE: Air Force?

By freon on 11/2/2006 6:39:09 PM , Rating: 2

Why the AF? We probably account for more global intelligence information and missions than the other 3 services combined. I am no Army expert, but as far as I know the bulk of their intelligence work is focused on the ground missions our forces are involved with at the time.

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RE: Air Force?

By Clienthes on 11/3/2006 7:48:15 AM , Rating: 3

Except that this isn't technically intelligence, its information security.

Still, the Air Force seems like the best fit, in that the AF is mostly rear area support, and already is resposible for a big chunk of the communications infrastructure anyway.

Also remember, there is a national agency under the DoD that is responsible for this stuff at a higher level. But one of the services needs to be responsible for this at the theatre level. They'll also augment the national level agencies capabilities outside the DoD, or at least I would assume so, since its the national agencies ballpark, they're gonna want to get some benefit out of it if they have to develop/provide training and support (and they will).

I'd expect a fair amount of the bill for this to be picked up under the NSA cryptosecurity budget, just like a fair amount of the intel bill is paid by the governing national authority.

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RE: Air Force?

By jak3676 on 11/6/2006 10:06:03 AM , Rating: 2

For those who don't know - all the services already have something similar (the Amry's version is Network Enterprise technology Command - NETCOM). The DoD command in charge of all of them is Stratgic Command - STRATCOM. These organizations have already been around for decades.

The only real news here is that the Air Force is changing their version from a 2-star command to a 4-star. Their new boss will have more pull. I expect the other services will follow suit shortly. They will all continue to report to STRATCOM reguardless.

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Woohoo

By corduroygt on 11/2/2006 5:34:39 PM , Rating: 2

Bring on SKYNET

RE: Woohoo

By peternelson on 11/2/2006 11:32:14 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah, just a matter of time before they realise computers will be better at this than overpaid guys sitting behind desks.

I like the list of possible actions, including "DESTROY" the sources (possibly foreign) of nasty traffic!

ie they might bomb your house if your PC is hacking the Pentagon!

Anyway since they recently decided they didn't need everyone at the cheyenne mountain base of norad and are moving various operations out, this makes Cheyenne mountain complex a logically vacant and better place to locate this new cyberspace unit, which can be colocated with the Stargate program.

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RE: Woohoo

By FITCamaro on 11/6/2006 7:33:40 AM , Rating: 2

Actually in the real Cheyenne mountain facility there's a broom closet that has a sign on it. It reads "Stargate Command".

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Sounds like NetForce...

By carage on 11/3/2006 12:10:58 AM , Rating: 3

Way to go, Tom Clancy!

RE: Sounds like NetForce...

By Cincybeck on 11/3/2006 12:55:37 AM , Rating: 3

I have to agree, sounds pretty damn familiar. Hell they should of gave Clancy some props and actually named the damn thing Netforce. I guess the next we will see or not see is a third party org. like in Teeth of the Tiger. Silent assassins.

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Cool

By NaughtyGeek on 11/2/2006 4:19:04 PM , Rating: 2

I wish they had this program when I was in the military. The career potential here is fantastic.

RE: Cool

By peternelson on 11/2/2006 11:35:42 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah great work experience in a growing industry.

Obviously you can be trained and progress in the military.

Then you can move into the civilian IT sector.

Then you can work for NSA or foreign secret services.

Then you can be hired by dictatorships and freedom fighter groups like North Korea, Iran, Al-Quaida for their counter-counter-cyberterrorism programs.

In terms of career progression, I see only upside ;-)

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Woot!!

By Oxygenthief on 11/2/2006 4:17:29 PM , Rating: 2

WOOT WOOT!

My org made it into the news! What a day!

About time.

By WhiteBoyFunk on 11/2/2006 4:39:08 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah there is quite a bit of career potential here. I think I should cross train out of Public Affairs and weasel my way into this new MAJCOM. That would be fun :)

You mean to tell me

By Dfere on 11/3/2006 1:25:12 PM , Rating: 2

We have no "theater level" assets for any of the branches with regards to net security and defense now?

Baloney.

Do not get me wrong. I think we underfund the military due to massive entitlements spending. But to say we need a budget for this indicates the military is asking for more funding but it appears a whole new request is being put together. Once this funding is achieved, then wherever the money was coming from before will be spent elsewhere.

I do not believe the DoD should be using these tactics to apply for funding increase.