International Cyber Terrorism

technical assistance for network and information assurance to USCYBERCOM, and is
moving its headquarters to Fort Meade.
President Obama signed into law, on 23 December 2016, the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2017, which elevated USCYBERCOM to a
unified combatant command. The FY 2017 NDAA also specified that the dual-hatted
arrangement of the commander of USCYBERCOM will not be terminated until the
Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff jointly certify that ending
this arrangement will not pose risks to the military effectiveness of CYBERCOM that are
unacceptable to the national security interests of the United States.
Concerns
There are concerns that the Pentagon and NSA will overshadow any civilian cyber
defense efforts. There are also concerns on whether the command will assist in civilian
cyber defense efforts. According to Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, the
command "will lead day-to-day defense and protection of all DoD networks. It will be
responsible for DoD's networks – the dot-mil world. Responsibility for federal civilian
networks – dot-gov – stays with the Department of Homeland Security, and that's
exactly how it should be." Alexander notes, however, that if faced with cyber hostilities
an executive order could expand Cyber Command's spectrum of operations to include,
for instance, assisting the Department of Homeland Security in defense of their
networks.
Some military leaders claim that the existing cultures of the Army, Navy, and Air Force
are fundamentally incompatible with that of cyber warfare. Major Robert Costa (USAF)
even suggested a sixth branch of the military, an Information (Cyber) Service with Title
10 responsibilities analogous to its sister services in 2002 noting:
“ While no one [Instrument of National Power] operates in a vacuum... Information increasingly
underpins the other three [Diplomatic, Economic and Military], yet has proven to be the most
vulnerable, even as US society becomes more dependent on it in peace, conflict, and war. To
attack these centers of gravity, an adversary will use the weakest decisive point, ... the
Information IOP. In addition, the other IOPs benefit from Unity of Effort--Constitutional balances
of power ensure the Diplomatic and Military IOPs exercised by the President in concert with
Congress are focused, while the Economic IOP achieves Unity of Action through international
market controls and an international body of law. [In 2002], [t]he Information IOP however, [was]
rudderless, lacking both Unity of Action and Unity of Command.
”
Others have also discussed the creation of a cyber-warfare branch. Lieutenant Colonel
Gregory Conti and Colonel John "Buck" Surdu (chief of staff of the United States Army
Research, Development and Engineering Command) stated that the three major
services are:
properly positioned to fight kinetic wars, and they value skills such as marksmanship,
physical strength, the ability to leap out of airplanes and lead combat units under enemy
fire.
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