Omaha World-Herald June 12, 2009
A reduced role for StratCom?
Matthew Hansen
The U.S. Strategic Command is awaiting a military review that eventually might diminish its role as the military's go-to group for waging war in cyberspace.
That Pentagon review also could move some StratCom personnel from Offutt Air Force Base and other bases to Maryland, the proposed site for a unified cyber war and cyber defense headquarters.
The stakes appear high in cyberspace - President Barack Obama recently created a White House office with the task of better-protecting government and industry computer systems from hackers. Cyber attacks have tripled in the past three years, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Military leaders worry that the Chinese and Russian governments are already spying on and even attacking rivals online.
The stakes are also high for the Bellevue-based StratCom: Some military leaders have recommended taking the cyber mission away from the command, arguing that StratCom should stick to overseeing the military's nuclear weapons, space satellites and missile defense systems.
StratCom leaders themselves have described the cyber mission as its "least mature" but have argued that the Offutt-based command is more than capable of handling that mission. A StratCom spokesman said the Department of Defense hasn't yet made a decision on the future of the cyber mission.
"U.S. Strategic Command will be prepared to support in whichever way that we're directed to go forward," said Lt. Charlie Drey, StratCom spokesman.
Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who is both a StratCom commander and director of the National Security Agency, took the cyberspace review public last month during testimony to Congress.
Alexander advocated for "a more substantial reorganization" of the military's cyber mission, and he mentioned the possibility of a new cyber command headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland.
That headquarters would protect the military's computer networks from being attacked by hackers and foreign government spies. Currently, the Pentagon relies heavily on private industry experts to respond to those threats, Lt. Gen. William Shelton told the congressional committee.
A new cyber command presumably would go on the offensive in cyberspace, using computer weapons alongside the military's more conventional weapons in future wars.
Alexander told the House Armed Services Committee that StratCom would oversee this new cyberspace headquarters. But subsequent reports have mentioned the possibility that the National Security Agency itself would take a larger role.
Experts also speculate that the new cyber defense headquarters eventually could become a command of its own, operating independently of StratCom.
George Smith, cyber expert for Globalsecurity.org, a military think tank, said it would make some sense for the Department of Defense to integrate the existing cyber defense and cyber war missions into one unified effort.
Currently, StratCom, the Air Force, the NSA and the Defense Information Systems Agency all have pieces of the cyber mission.
Integrating won't be simple, Smith said.
"Some of these agencies have been around for a long time. They probably have some personal as well as professional stake in the mission," he said. "It won't be that easy to just say, 'Hey, this is one unified command, we're all going to do it this way.'"
Any changes also underscore the cyber mission's growing importance to the military and lawmakers alike.
Military leaders now routinely warn that the Pentagon's computer networks are attacked daily.
A recent Government Accountability Office report said federal agencies reported nearly 17,000 "cyber incidents" last year. The GAO reported that 1 percent of the incidents were attacks that impaired a federal agency's computer system.
Rival governments are suspected of being involved in cyber attacks and cyber espionage that not long ago would have been relegated to the science-fiction rack.
A Chinese computer system dubbed GhostNet recently infiltrated at least 1,300 computers in the United States and more than 100 other countries, allegedly to steal information about the Dalai Lama.
Russians are suspected of attacking some of Georgia's computer systems before the Russian military bombed that country last August.
Most cyber defense isn't sexy, Smith said. It's the day-to-day drudgery of protecting computer networks from things like data theft and computer viruses.
But the bigger threats from foreign governments scare military, industry and academic experts, said Mustaque Ahamad, director of Georgia Tech's Information Security Center.
"This is keeping a lot of people awake at night," he said.
No matter what happens with the cyber mission, StratCom's future in Omaha still shines bright.
The command expects to receive 600 more personnel in the next few years to complete its cyber mission, Drey said, though it's unclear where those new personnel will be based.
StratCom also is slated to break ground on a new headquarters at Offutt by 2012. The $458 million project will replace an existing headquarters built in 1957.
© Copyright 2009, Omaha World-Herald
