|
Elder
discusses new shop with chief By Marcus Weisgerber Inside the Air Force March 23, 2007 The Air Force is taking the “next step” in its plans to stand up a Cyber Command and could announce the new shop has reached major command status by late summer, the service’s chief of staff told lawmakers this week. A March 6 meeting between Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Cyber Command chief Lt. Gen. Robert Elder “marked the beginning of the next step in the stand-up of the” major command, Air Force spokesman William Ackerman said in a March 16 e-mail. At the meeting Moseley and Elder “discuss the details of the new” command which is still “in the developmental stage,” Ackerman said. Elder is currently “working the details for the logistics and planning of the operational command.” Despite still being “a bit in the baby steps” on the command’s creation, Moseley told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee the Air Force could announce Cyber Command has achieved major command status by “late summer [or] early fall.” “We . . . are looking at sometime soon to move that into a major command status the same as Air Mobility Command or Air Force Space Command, to be able to address these issues,” Moseley said during the March 21 hearing. Elder and his cyber team have been developing a more detailed plan for the new shop since Moseley greenlighted the three-star’s overall objectives during a Nov. 16 meeting at the Pentagon. The Cyber Command, which is expected to achieve full capability by October 2009, will “provide combat ready forces trained and equipped to conduct sustained offensive and defensive operations through the electromagnetic spectrum and fully integrate these with air and space operations,” Moseley wrote in a November 2006 “go-do” letter to Elder. The organization will also “leverage, consolidate and integrate” Air Force-unique cyber capabilities. “Your primary mission is warfighting,” Moseley stated. “You will provide options and capabilities scalable from ‘cyber strike packages’ to full-scale global effects.” The command is also expected to identify “intelligence requirements sufficient to direct and counter adversaries across the electromagnetic spectrum.” Elder, who also commands 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, LA, said in January an air operations center for cyber activities was already up and running (ITAF, Jan. 19, p1). Meantime, Gen. Ronald Keys -- during a February press conference with reporters -- called on policymakers to consider how far the United States should go to safeguard its electronic communications and data storage, sister publication Inside the Pentagon reported. Asked if the Cyber Command, which is to report to Keys’ Air Combat Command, will be authorized to shut down intruders that threaten U.S. government or business interests, the general replied, “Can’t do it. It’s illegal. We live in a democracy.” Keys described the conundrum as an urgent issue facing the civilian leadership, noting the military’s job is simply to provide the tools for detection and defense. “If [hackers are] not in the United States, you can’t touch them,” he said. “And if they’re in the United States, the FBI’s going to have to get involved. It is a tremendous question of: Is this a clear and present danger?” From a technical perspective, putting policy issues aside, the means do exist to temporarily shut down hackers, Keys said. “Could you do it?” he asked. “Well, yeah, you could do it. Would they spring back up? Yeah, almost assuredly.” (Archives) |