The ever-amazing Ellen Nakashima with a very important article for The Washington Post on how DoD is expanding CyberComm. According to Nakashima, CyberComm–currently made up “of about 900 personnel”–will increase to about 4,900 “troops and civilians.” More importantly, Nakashima laid out how CyberComm is going to be divided:
The plan calls for the creation of three types of forces under the Cyber Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that undergird electrical grids, power plants and other infrastructure deemed critical to national and economic security; “combat mission forces” to help commanders abroad plan and execute attacks or other offensive operations, and “cyber protection forces” to harden the Defense Department’s networks.
These force divisions really interest me, and I’m sure you can see the legal implications. The “national mission forces” division sounds like an inward facing component, especially if its protecting electrical grids, power plants, and other domestic infrastructure. However, Nakashima quotes a defense official who said the national mission teams are actually outward facing, ostensibly stopping incoming attacks without crawling through private networks. The same official went on to say that the military won’t be monitoring private networks. That line may comfort some, but the writing is on the wall for the military taking an increasingly large role in defending private networks.
The article also noted some unease about CyberComm’s continuing close relationship with the NSA, especially if CyberComm wants to move to full combatant command status.
Really great article by Ellen Nakashima, check out the WashPo link here.
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