Off We Go into the Wild Digital Yonder: Building Cyber Forces

Abstract

A critical component of the Department of Defense's strategy for operating in cyberspace is the designation of this area of conflict as an operational domain. It is assumed that the ensuing organizational change associated with this recognition will more effectively facilitate the organization, training, and equipping of forces to dominate our adversaries in cyberspace. These functions, however, remain the purview of the separate military services who also remain the keepers of the profession of arms for their respective domains. Given the increasing importance of the cyber domain, it is time to consider a separate service to ensure the dominance of U.S. Forces in cyberspace. This paper examines the cyber domain beyond the mere designation and takes a more enduring perspective. Current initiatives in cyber command and control are examined, and they are revealed as insufficient in the context of the broader title 10 service responsibilities to organize, train, and equip cyber forces. The evolution of the Air Force (from the Army Signal Corps and later the Army Air Corps) is used to validate the evolution to a cyber service.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA590666

Entities

People

  • Charles C. Rimbey

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Cyberspace
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Education
  • Military Aviation
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States Strategic Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Cyber
  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control