[Infowarrior] - DOD realigns cyberwarfare shops

[Richard Forno]

(This is a very good thing, IMHO.....--rf)

GATES DIRECTS REALIGNMENT OF MILITARY CYBERWARFARE SHOPS
Inside the Pentagon  December 4, 2008
http://www.insidedefense.com/secure/display.asp?docnum=11252008_nov25d&f=

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has placed operational control over the  
entire range of military cyberspace activities in the hands of the  
Pentagon’s premiere offensive cyberwarfare unit, according to a Nov.  
12 memo obtained by InsideDefense.com.

The move, effective immediately, puts the Ft. Meade, MD-based Joint  
Functional Component Command-Network Warfare in charge of the Joint  
Task Force-Global Network Operations. The Arlington, VA-based JTF-GNO  
is tasked with defending the military’s networks.

Both organizations are part of U.S. Strategic Command. National  
Security Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander is also the  
JFCC-NW commander. Similarly, the JTF-GNO chief serves as the director  
of the Defense Information Systems Agency.

That job will be filled soon by Army Maj. Gen. Carroll Pollett, who  
previously served as STRATCOM chief of staff. Senators confirmed his  
nomination for the job, which comes with a promotion to lieutenant  
general, on Oct. 2.

“There is a pressing need to ensure a single command structure is  
empowered to plan, execute, and integrate the full range of military  
cyberspace missions,” Gates says in the memo, sent to senior defense  
leaders.

The DISA director will “remain responsible for providing the JTF-GNO  
network and information assurance technical assistance as required,”  
the memo states.

All DISA components and the JTF-GNO unit are slated for relocation to  
Ft. Meade beginning in October 2010 as a result of the 2005 round of  
base closures and realignments.

Daniel Kuehl, a cyberwarfare scholar and professor at the National  
Defense University, called Gates’ move a “logical” step in the  
Pentagon’s efforts to prepare for future conflicts in cyberspace.

He said the move signals a realization that offensive and defensive  
measures in cyberwarfare should be addressed as a whole. “You can’t  
hermetically separate the two,” he told InsideDefense.com.

“I think what we’re seeing is a normalization of cyberspace as a  
warfighting domain,” Kuehl added. -- Sebastian Sprenger