[Infowarrior] - Air Force Trains Warriors To Defend Cyberspace From Terror

[Richard Forno]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-01-28-cyber_N.htm

USA Today
January 29, 2008 

Air Force Trains Warriors To Defend Cyberspace From Terror

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today

WASHINGTON-- Ready. Aim. Click.

The military relies on computers and electronic communication to launch
precision weapons, spy on its enemies and communicate with troops in combat.
The Air Force is revamping its training to prepare its 320,000 airmen to
protect its front lines in cyberspace, Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Schissler
said. The battlefield includes the Internet, cellphone calls and signals
that trigger roadside bombs.

"In cyber, the weapon of choice is going to be the computer that sits on
your desk," said Schissler, the Air Force's director of cyberoperations.

Every enlisted man and officer will be taught about cyberwarfare in basic
training, the Air Force Academy or officer candidate school, Schissler said.
About 100 students per year will receive more advanced instruction at the
Undergraduate Network Warfare Training course at Hurlburt Field in Florida.
Graduates of the six-month program will be able to operate a computer like
"a weapon system" and will be known as cyberwarriors or cyberoperators,
Schissler said. The first class graduated last month.

The Air Force wants to build offensive and defensive capabilities in
cyberspace. A presentation from the Center for Cyberspace Research at the
Air Force Institute of Technology states the goal plainly: The Air Force
"can drop a 2,000-pound bomb anywhere we want. Š We need to be able to do
the same thing in cyberspace Š while denying that ability to any adversary!"

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne noted last year that terrorists exploit
the Internet and need to be fought there.

"These adversaries can communicate globally with their agents, spread
propaganda, mobilize support worldwide, conduct training, detonate
improvised explosive devices and can empty or create bank accounts to fund
their causes," Wynne told an Air Force conference.

Muslim extremists, Schissler said, run as many as 6,000 websites for
recruiting.

A cyberwarrior will monitor computers used by terrorists to learn of
imminent attacks and help thwart them, Schissler said. Wynne wrote in an
article in an Air Force professional journal that in cyberwarfare, airmen in
Colorado can use satellites to program weapons on an F-16 to kill insurgents
planting roadside bombs in Iraq.

The Pentagon acknowledges that its computers are attacked hundreds of times
each day.

Most of the intrusions are thwarted, but an attack last June disrupted an
unclassified e-mail system in the Defense secretary's office.

Schissler said there's no ideal cyberwarrior. "You have to be quick to
learn," he said. "That's the only real requirement."

John Pike, a defense analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org, questioned
whether the Air Force program would overlap with responsibilities of the
National Security Agency (NSA), which gathers and analyzes foreign
communication.

Jamming enemy air-defense radar and protecting computers from hackers have
been part of traditional electronic warfare for the Air Force.

"This thing sounds like they've set up their own operation separate from the
NSA," Pike said.