Air Force Readying Cyber Strikes

Wired Magazine
Posted: 2007-10-09 19:19:08

The Pentagon's network warriors have traditionally focused on defense.  Not any more. 

There's been a "radical change in U.S. policy when it comes to its cyber warfighting stance," according to Inside the Air Force.  A few months back, Pentagon officials were saying that "the military had no plans to shift its cyber warfare focus from a defensive mindset to an offensive one."    But now that the Air Force has declared themselves the service in charge of all things electronic, "high-ranking service officials say they are developing offensive strategies to attack enemies’ cyber assets."

“Cyber, as a warfighting domain . . . like air, favors the offense,” said Lani Kass, director of the Air Force’s Cyberspace Task Force, while presenting the elements of the National Military Strategy for Cyberspace Operations (NMSCO) last week. This is first time the Air Force formally acknowledged it has plans to take an offensive approach to cyberwarfare. [Although there have been plenty of informal acknowledgments, by the flyboys and others. -- ed.]

The NMSCO makes it the official doctrine of the United States military to bring the fight to the enemy, to constantly be on the offensive when it comes to the cyber domain, said Kass during a Sept. 26 presentation at an Air Force Association-sponsored conference in Washington...

On Oct. 3, the Senate authorized up to $4 million be made available for the Cyberspace Innovation Center for Cyber Combat Development.

In the wake of several Chinese probes into the Defense Department's non-classified computer and communications network, known as the NIPRNET, as well as German and British defense networks, the Air Force has made it clear it feels that, to fight effectively in cyberspace, a military must be on the offensive.

“If you’re defending in cyber, you’re already too late. Cyber delivers on the original promise of air power,” said Kass. “If you don’t dominate in cyber, you cannot dominate in other domains. If you’re a developed country, you can’t conduct daily life [after a large scale cyber attack], your life comes to a screeching halt.