[Infowarrior] - USAF may outsource cyberwarfare ops

[Richard Forno]

Inside the Pentagon
April 3, 2008

General seeks Œdifferent kind of warrior¹

AIR FORCE EYES OUTSOURCING CYBERWARFARE BILLETS TO CONDUCT OPS

As Air Force leaders finalize the initial organizational details for their
new Cyber Command, the service may need to lean on contractors to carry out
cyberwarfare missions, the command¹s chief said this week.

³There are efforts to look at civilians, to look at contractors . . . there
is an enormous amount of civilian continuity required, especially in this
kind arena, at the same time you have to bring in this innovation,² Air
Force Cyber Command head Maj. Gen. William Lord said in a March 31 briefing
with reporters organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.

By October, the command (AFCYBER) is slated to reach initial operating
status, meaning 50 percent of the command¹s anticipated 8,000-man force will
be stood up across the continental United States, according to Lord.

However, the Air Force¹s is having difficulty recruiting personnel with the
necessary skills to support the command¹s mission, Lord said. As a result,
AFCYBER leaders will have to lean on contractor support in the near-term to
conduct operations.

³Perhaps they are not the same kind of folks that you want to march to
breakfast in the morning,² he said, noting cyberwarriors do not fit the
traditional military mold. ³Perhaps that is not the right kind of construct
for these kids in the future.²

Aside from the regimented training apparatus, he noted that service
officials are also having trouble selling the idea of extended military
service to a group ³that you might not want to hook up to a polygraph.²

³I have said that perhaps we need a different kind of warrior for this
domain,² the three-star general added. ³How do attract the brains of this
crowd . . . [and] use their wonderful, innovative ability?²

Other senior military leaders have also expressed frustration regarding the
challenges in recruiting the U.S. military¹s next-generation of
cyberwarriors.

Lt. Gen Frank Kearney, deputy commander for U.S. Special Operations Command,
said internal deliberations within SOCOM are under way in order to address
recruitment challenges, including offering potential recruits numerous
incentives, such as signing bonuses. (ITP, February 28, p1).

SOCOM officials are also looking to partner with their counterparts at the
State Department and across the intelligence community, he added during a
Feb 26 hearing on Capitol Hill.

Bolstering the number of U.S. military personnel trained to fight in the
digital domain is part of the Defense Department¹s overall strategy for
future cyberwarfare operations, according to a DOD budget justification
document for fiscal year 2009.

The plan, dubbed the ³National Military Strategy for Cyberwarfare
Operations,² is geared toward focusing DOD action ³in the areas of military,
intelligence, and business operations in and through cyberspace,² the
document states.

Along with growing the number of U.S. cyberwarriors, DOD strategists are
looking to leverage cyberwarfare capabilities ³across the full range of
military operations² in order to disrupt state and non-state actors from
carrying out attacks against the U.S. and its allies, it adds.

As the Pentagon and the services continue to grapple with how to find and
train cyberwarriors, Lord said some kind of shift within the DOD¹s approach
is needed.

³We have got to shed some of our own traditional recruiting mechanisms to go
after a different crowd,² Lord said.

-- Carlo Muñoz