Four Years After Establishment, Army Cyber Command Touts Progress (UPDATED)

The relatively new Army Cyber Command is looking to perform more joint operations as it continues to build its capabilities, a pair of its senior leaders said Oct. 15 at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C.

In order to do that, it will need to collaborate with the government and private industry to develop a capable, sustainable cyber environment, said its commander, Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon.

Army Cyber Command just passed its fourth anniversary. According to its mission statement, it was established in 2010 with the goal of "full spectrum cyberspace operations to ensure freedom of action in cyberspace, and to deny the same to U.S. adversaries."

It activated a cyber protection team in September, Cordon said. The command is integrating National Guard and Reservists into its forces and placing them in these response teams, he said.

On Oct. 7, the command held a ceremony where team members received their new insignia patches, according to an Army Cyber Command article. The teams will be responsible for “conducting defensive cyberspace operations, readiness inspections and vulnerability assessments as well as a variety of other cyber roles and missions,” the article stated. There are plans for 10 more teams.

Cyber Command, though still a relatively new organization, has done a great deal to bring the Army up to speed in cyberspace, Cordon said. But there are still questions moving forward.
"How do we organize ourselves ... in cyber? And I believe that is a closer partnership with private industry, and how we work requirements capabilities in acquisition," he added.

"Next year, we are going to drive very hard on … operations both at the national support to combatant commanders and the Army level," Cordon said.

He added: "We’re now starting to work very hard on 'What does cyber look like at corps level and below?' Sometimes you'll hear this referred to as tactical cyber."

The command’s Cyber Center for Excellence training institution is working to address those questions and adequately lay out doctrine for dealing with Army cyber strategy, he said. As it continues to make strides, Army Cyber Command is still seeking to answer the broader question of "what is the scope of cyber?"

The Cyber Center of Excellence currently teaches signal, cyber and electronic warfare, and though it doesn’t now, it will also need to include intelligence gathering in the future, said its commanding general Maj. Gen. Stephen Fogarty.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Army Cyber headquarters had moved to Fort Gordon, GA. Its headquarters is in Fort Belvoir, VA.

Topics: C4ISR, Cybersecurity, Infotech