Air Force and the Cyberspace Mission: Defending the Air Force's Computer Network in the Future
Abstract
A little over year ago, in November 2005, the Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley wrote a joint letter to all airmen of the Air Force, which defined a new mission statement that included the concept of "cyberspace." Cyberspace was defined as including network security, data transmission, and the sharing of information. Although the Air Force and the Department of Defense (DoD) in general, have numerous safeguards in effect to protect systems and their networks, DoD relies on a system that is "passive" when encountering cyber threats. This paper recommends that the Air Force pursue research in quantum encryption and security, and continue to examine computer security techniques for the mid-term and beyond. The Air Force should continue future planning efforts to anticipate and develop countermeasures to emerging threats in order to proactively protect and dominate the cyberspace domain of the future. This paper argues that America's future adversaries can, and will, use information technology as a means to wage warfare in the cyberspace domain against the United States. The Air Force is highly dependent on computers and information operations, and will be even more dependent in the next 20 years. The majority of computers, their operating systems, and software purchased by the Air Force are commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, often manufactured abroad due to cheaper cost. Thus, foreign countries could place hidden components inside the computers, making the computers vulnerable for attack and/or spying. Furthermore, Air Force networks are connected to and utilize the internet, which also is vulnerable for exploitation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA474828
Entities
People
- Shane P. Courville
Organizations
- Air War College