[Infowarrior] - DOD Crafting TTPs For Targeting Of Electronic, Cyber And Space Systems

[Richard Forno]

JNKEI?   "JNKEI"???  Sounds like something Daphne would say to Scooby-Do, not the name of a Pentagon test project......but then again, I've see worse in my day.  ;)  Jinkies!!   -rick


Inside the Army - 08/02/2010

DOD Crafting TTPs For Targeting Of Electronic, Cyber And Space Systems

Defense Department officials are slated to wrap up a three-year joint test
culminating in new tactics, techniques and procedures for achieving
non-kinetic "effects" against targets in space and cyberspace, according to
a department spokesman.

In Pentagon jargon, the Joint Non-Kinetic Effects Integration (JNKEI) test
focuses on better integrating the military activities of "electronic
attack," "computer network attack" and "offensive space control," according
to officials and documents. In practice, this includes operations like
jamming radio signals, "negating [enemy] access to space assets," and
infiltrating an enemy's network to compromise information or even hardware,
according to the spokesman.

Officials at U.S. Strategic Command, which sponsors the test, declined to be
interviewed. Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Steve Curry recently provided
written answers to questions submitted by Inside the Army, following a
months-long release process that involved the Office of the Secretary of
Defense.

While officials employing non-kinetic weapons use the term "targeting" just
as it is used for the planning of bomb runs or missile strikes, different
rules and challenges apply, according to Curry. "It's not like 'see a
building, drop a bomb,'" Curry wrote in an e-mail. "It's more like 'see the
building, there's a network switch inside that we must be able to access.'"

Once a target is struck through non-kinetic means, officials find it
difficult to quantify "collateral damage" and unintended consequences, Curry
acknowledged.

As the JNKEI test comes to an end on September 30, officials will finalize a
set of TTPs that would give military leaders a way of more comprehensively
considering non-kinetic attacks in the electronic, cyber and space domains
during their overall operations planning process, Curry wrote.

Officials previously tested the effectiveness of draft versions of the TTPs
in various exercises, most recently during U.S. Pacific Command's "Terminal
Fury" drill in May. PACOM and U.S. European Command are co-sponsors of the
JNKEI test. It was initiated by the Pentagon's operational test and
evaluation office, which focuses on finding what officials dub
"non-materiel" improvements to the way U.S. forces do business.

As part of the test, 150 officials across the services and combatant
commands were trained in the employment of the classified TTPs.

No non-DOD agencies took part in JKNEI, but defense agencies like the
National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Defense
Information Systems Agency participated, according to Curry.

-- Sebastian Sprenger