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Leaders lay ground for Cyberspace Command

Cyberspace isn’t just for computer geeks anymore.

It is an emerging battleground crucial for ensuring that American wins the wars of the future, said top Air Force leaders speaking Feb. 8 and 9 at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla.

Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Air Combat Command commander Gen. Ronald E. Keys laid out their vision for the new Cyberspace Command in which airmen attack the enemy while defending their own assets much as they would in any other major command.

“It won’t be just guys with thick glasses, drinking Mountain Dew and eating candy bars late at night,” Keys said Feb. 9.

“This is not going to be another geeky stovepipe. … This is going to be another integrated part of air and space. … This about warfare; not about novelty.”

Calling cyberspace the Air Force’s new “high frontier,” Keys portrayed a brave new world in which terrorists are using cyberspace to detonate roadside bombs remotely, conduct financial transactions to fund operations and recruit, train, command and control their operatives spread across the globe.

He also said enemies are eager to exploit the U.S. military’s reliance on high-tech systems.

“Cyberspace is our primary means for command and control, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” Keys said. “It’s inseparably entwined in everything we do. … Everybody out there knows that if they get into my networks and slow them down or corrupt them or cause me to lose faith in them or shut them down completely, that’s going to be a real big advantage.”

Wynne portrayed cyberspace as a battleground in which a savvy enemy can counteract the U.S.’s traditional advantages in firepower and technology.

“There is asymmetry,” he said. “The cost of entry is low. And the enemy can throw many trained operators into the fight.”

In order to counteract that capability, Wynne said, the Air Force must be willing to adapt and play by new rules.

“The asymmetry runs two ways,” he said. “By applying the cyber principles, it is possible to use the foe’s own cyber network against them. Cyberspace is a fighting domain where the principles of war do apply, and we need true war-fighters in this domain.”

Moseley noted that cyber-attacks are becoming more frequent and severe, and called for an aggressive response.

“We’ve got to be prepared to conduct offense,” he said. “And that’s the task that’s going to require a policy decision and a bit of a discussion about the transition from defense to offense. I’m not sure we’re there yet. … This is not going well. This is a big problem.”

The Air Force announced in November that 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., will become the new cyberspace command. Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr. will command the force.