Air Force Cyber Command - Offensive Branch of US Cyberpower?
Earlier this year, the Air Force made a move to take over responsibility for military operations in cyberspace, in a bold move in the typical game of inter-service rivalry. In a press release , General Mike Moseley, AFCC, announced the creation of Air Force Cyber Command.
He declared that the mission of this new organization was:
[to] 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,” The organization will also “leverage, consolidate and integrate” Air Force-unique cyber capabilities.
There were a few other very interested quotes that are relevant to my paper near the end of this press release:
“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.”
Okay, but then…
Asked if the Cyber 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.”
So, according to General Keys, the military’s role is to provide some tools for defense. Yet CC Moseley is calling for strike packages with global effects? Following the typical Air force mindset, there is no emphasis on the defense and all the emphasis on offensive “global strike”.
So, it would appear the that purpose, then, of AF Cyber Command is offensive cyberpower operations. Presumably, in wartime Air Force and other military cyberpower resources could be used in a defensive mode, say against the common “Chinese” attacks on the Pentagon networks, by and large it would appear that the purpose of this organization is an offensive one. Given what appears to be the roles and missions of DHS and the FBI (the latter to be explored in a later post) this seems to be a good idea from a national strategy perspective.