Gen Chilton, commander of USSTRATCOM noted in his keynote speech at the Omaha cyberspace symposium a couple of months back that he had all the authority he needed (UCMJ & appropriate civilian directives) to enforce cyber directives.
Many in the comm/cyber community have been asking for more authority to enforce network orders and now it seems like the AF has moved in that direction.
I see a couple of issues with, though:
1) The level of training and system standardization that our network/cyber professionals have to deal with are nowhere near the same level as what our aircraft/missile maintainers work with. Aircrafts and missiles are produced by manufacturers who are required by the military to product Technical Orders so the maintainers can follow step-by-step instructions (including which specific tools to use) on how to repair their weapon system. No such level of detail exists for the cyber realm. Often times, our cyber pros (in all the services) are left to invent procedures on their own to repair our systems because the network orders are not detailed enough to implement or the orders do not easily translate to the specific network they are operating and maintaining.
2) Many local commanders find that they have more problems with the users than with their network pros. It was not uncommon for users to intentionally bypass the rules and introduce vulnerabilities into the network. Rarely are any of these individuals held accountable by their commanders. It will be interesting to see if the military decides to hold users accountable at the same level as the network defenders.
Your thoughts?
Getting Serious About Cyber Security
AIR FORCE MAGAZINE-DAILY REPORT
06/01/2009
In case you missed it, last week President Obama announced plans to create a new office at the White House headed by a Cybersecurity Coordinator because the cyber threat "is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation." He also indicated the new office would be part of the new single White House National Security Staff that also encompasses homeland security and counterterrorism functions.
The US military has been at the forefront of the effort to combat the cyber threat, with plans now emerging about creating a new sub-command under US Strategic Command. And, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has just issued a directive that elevates computer maintenance, network tasking orders, and cyber control orders issued by the Air Force Network Operations commander "to the same authority as aircraft maintenance technical orders and lawful general orders," according to a May 28 Air Force release.
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