Schriever Wargame 2010 - Air Force Space Command

ing—by the speed in which situations occur, the greater interdependencies
that exist between problems and their solutions and
the growing ambiguities created by the added reliance on a proliferation
of information. Today’s civilian and military leaders
must be adaptable to these new dynamics while retaining sage
lessons of America’s past. To some degree the challenges we
face in our space and cyberspace domains provide useful illustrations
of the complexities that leaders will increasingly face in
today’s other global commons.
The US maintained a dominating and, to some degree, solitary
presence in space and cyberspace during the last century.
This is no longer the case. America shares both physical and virtual
presence in these domains with other countries, groups, and
individuals, including a large contingent of commercial operators,
many of each category with capabilities on par with those
of the US.
Today, virtually every human being and government on Earth
depends on some aspect of global space and cyberspace domains
to ensure their safety, security, or prosperity. The activities
they enable are interwoven into the very fabric of our daily
lives. America’s military, public safety, transportation, and other
essential crisis response organizations are supported by global
satellite communications, precision navigation, and wide area
weather patterns and predictions to name a few. The military
specifically depends on space and cyber systems to provide targeting
information for units and individual weapons, global and
regional missile warning, and a wide range of computing capabilities
essential to modern warfare.
These same space and cyberspace systems enhance our national
wellbeing by providing crucial information that informs
civilian and military leaders. They enable America’s ability to
determine the extent of a potential adversary’s strategic capabilities
and their readiness. They allow us to monitor an adversary’s
operational activities and preparations, verify arms control
agreements, assess force activities, and in near real-time, the intentions
of an adversary’s leadership, among others. Together
space and cyberspace are significant components of the US intelligence
and military operations and capabilities.
Yet space and cyberspace are no longer domains solely dedicated
to science and national defense. They also underpin our
national economy in critically important ways. Precise timing
signals provided by the GPS satellites regulate global and national
financial institution transactions, individual automated
teller machines and automated credit card validation services
like those that support gasoline sales at the pump. Space and
cyberspace capabilities enhance environmental monitoring, agricultural
forecasting, real-time weather forecasting, and support
disaster relief operations following catastrophes. They enable
the provision of a wide array of life-saving medical and health
care, from urban centers to the most remote reaches of the globe.
Quite literally space and cyberspace have transitioned during the
past four decades from being unique tools of the US government
to become essential backbones of global life.
Given these factors it is no surprise that the potential global
consequences of even a minor conflict in space and cyberspace
domains have evolved to become far-reaching. In the same manner,
the implications of civilian and military leadership decisions
about the steps to take to deter conflicts in these domains, and
if necessary defeat adversaries, are equally far-reaching. The
leadership decisions necessary to preserve and protect America’s
interests in space and cyberspace require both an understanding
of the interdependencies between these and other domains
and an appreciation of the intricacies required in pursuing viable
courses of action. Just as the space and cyberspace domains
are interwoven so too are the strategies to protect and defend
them—crossing both public and private sectors and international
boundaries.
To be clear there has always been mutual dependency between
the military and civil government and to a lesser degree
the private sector in addressing America’s national security contingencies.
However, 19 th and 20 th century conflicts allowed for
clearer lines between the roles and actions of the military, civil
government, international partners, and the private sector. Accordingly,
responding to a crisis was often unilateral—with little
interaction and coordination required between the various elements
of the US government.
Today’s global condition is characterized by a proliferation of
other nations and the private sector engagement across both the
space and cyberspace domains and a much more interdependent
and interconnected world. The absence of distinct geographic
and political boundaries in space and cyberspace coupled with
our nascent understanding of second and third order effects arising
from defensive or offensive operations in these domains
create greater potential for unintended collateral disruption and
destruction that extend well beyond the intended target and can
encircle the globe in seconds.
Strategies of the past—predominately leveraging the forces
of the military to advance national security objectives, while the
ultimate fail-safe, is not necessarily the optimal approach for defending
America’s interests in space and cyberspace. Interdependencies
in these domains, both in terms of cause and effect,
by their very nature transcend America’s military and incorporate
a broad range of civilian, private sector, and international equities.
The ability of civilian and military leaders to understand
these equities and make better informed decisions is critical.
Accomplishing improvements in civilian and military leadership
decision making will require enhancements in the supporting
structures and strategies for protecting space and cyberspace.
These enhancements are not unlike the advances being
implemented under the concept of “smart power,” where national
security objectives and leadership direction are advanced by
mixing a range of the right instruments of national power, in a
manner best structured for addressing a given scenario and with
a full understanding of the interdependencies among cause and
effect—implementing the so called comprehensive approach.
These changing dynamics and characteristics necessitate military
and civilian leaders and operational capabilities enabled by
a new generation of technology, policy, and organizational structures.
These capabilities must be agile in order to continuously
adapt to the constant state of evolution and must allow for integration
of efforts that transcend all domains, including space and
cyberspace. In many respects these are the same characteristics
that drive us in all of our global interactions.
High Frontier 6