[ISN] Cyberstrategy Takes Shape

http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/Signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=1771

By Henry S. Kenyon
Signal Magazine
December 2008

The U.S. Army redefines how it will fight in and across the 
electromagnetic spectrum.

U.S. soldiers will soon be planning and executing operations in 
cyberspace as effectively and efficiently as they do on physical 
battlefields. These new missions are being outlined in a series of 
concepts suggesting how ground forces will function in cyberspace. Once 
they are formally evaluated and approved, the cyberplan is scheduled to 
become part of the U.S. Army’s overall warfighting and operational 
doctrine.

The branches of the U.S. military are increasingly viewing cyberspace as 
a new operational environment because it allows forces to conduct a 
range of missions, from intelligence gathering to directly attacking and 
crippling an adversary’s command and control capabilities. The U.S. Air 
Force already is in the process of establishing an active cyberspace 
presence (SIGNAL Magazine, August 2007), as is the U.S. Navy. Like its 
sister services, the Army also is determining its needs in cyberspace, 
explains Lt. Col. John Bircher, USA, deputy director for futures, U.S. 
Army Computer Network Operations and Electronic Warfare Component, Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas. “The big question we’re trying to resolve is, how 
does the Army need to operate in and through cyberspace?” he says.

An important part of the Army’s planning process is determining 
operational needs and mission responsibilities for the service’s various 
organizations. Prior to 1964, the Signal Corps was responsible for what 
was known as signal warfare. But in 1964, that responsibility became 
electronic warfare (EW) under the Army Security Agency and eventually 
the Army’s Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). From the late 
1980s until 2003, this EW mission remained relatively static, the 
colonel observes.

However, by 2003 the Army began encountering adversaries who used the 
electromagnetic spectrum in new and unusual ways, such as employing cell 
phones to detonate improvised explosive devices. Col. Bircher admits 
that the service was not prepared to deal with this challenge. To 
counter these threats, the Army established the Combined Arms Center in 
Fort Leavenworth as the service EW proponent. The colonel explains that 
EW covers a range of areas, from intelligence gathering to jamming and 
support operations. This mix of capabilities requires a combined arms 
approach to the electromagnetic spectrum, because the EW mission 
involves a range of coordinated capabilities designed to prevent enemy 
forces from using the spectrum while simultaneously defending U.S. 
spectrum use.

[...]


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