[Infowarrior] - The 50-State Strategy to Sell Cyber Command

[Richard Forno]

The 50-State Strategy to Sell Cyber Command
  06/13/08
http://www.nextgov.com/site_services/print_article.php?StoryID=ng_20080613_6536

One way to secure the Hill's backing -- and bucks -- for any new  
program is to spread it over as many states and congressional  
districts as possible. The new Air Force Cyber Command takes this  
approach to its ultimate limit: The service plans a cyber unit in  
every state, according to a briefing given in April by Maj. Gen.  
William Lord, the Cyber Command chief. The briefing was sent to me by  
a source who chooses to remain anonymous.

The very crowded slide of the 50 states that Lord presented at the  
Scope Warrior Spring Symposium, a gathering of top Air Force  
communications and information technology folks, looks like a bit of  
cyber-rebranding of the service's existing IT functions.

The majority of the sites, which will come under the Cyber Command  
umbrella, are designated as so-called network operations, a fancy way  
to describe the circuits and connections that already exist to serve  
those bases. While this is just putting a new name on old operations,  
it helps to include all 50 states in the count, which then bolsters  
the sales job.

The real centers of power, in what Lord called in his slides “AF  
Distributed Cyber Enterprise,” are eight bases located in the East,  
Midwest and South:

Networked Computer Operations:
Bolling Air Force Base, Washington

Theater Operations Integration:
Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Information Systems:
Rome Laboratory, N.Y.

Cyber Operations Integration:
Barksdale Air Force, La.

Information Operations:
Lackland Air Force Base, Texas

Space Operations Integration:
Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

Global Operations Integration:
Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

Global Networks:
Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Then there’s the command's new headquarters, which has sparked a  
sweepstakes that at least 18 states have entered. The Air Force plans  
to announce in September 2009 its decision on where to locate the  
headquarters.

I guess the consolation prize will be one of the smaller, rebranded  
cyber units the command has decided to sprinkle around the country.

It’s About Network Attack

During the past year, the Air Force has made it clear that the primary  
focus of the new Cyber Command will be the ability to attack an  
enemy’s networks, and Lord’s presentation reinforces this point.

In a slide under the heading of "Global Power," network and electronic  
attack capabilities take precedence over cyber deterrence. Lord  
emphasized that the command’s mission is to “provide robust,  
survivable access to cyberspace, with offensive and defensive  
capabilities.”

I'm hopeful that the Cyber Command can work out a way to conduct these  
attack missions without knocking out the 6 million Web pages linked to  
Paris Hilton and the 2 million or so Web pages dedicated to tracking  
the ups and downs of Britney Spears.

New Jobs, New Slogan, New Badge

It’s hard to have a cyber command without cyber warriors. To that end,  
Lord disclosed that the Air Force plans to develop a cyber career  
field for officer, enlisted and civilian personnel that will subsume  
venerable specialties in the communications and electronics field  
under the new cyber brand.

Lord also floated what could be a new slogan for the Cyber Command:  
"Transforming Warfare . . . Byte By Byte." I love it. It's punchy, to  
the point and better than a mission statement.

But you can’t set up a new command without a new badge, and Lord  
unveiled the cyber operator badge, which has what looks like four  
satellite orbits spaced evenly around the globe on what is the  
original Air Force badge.