31 August 2017

U.S. CYBER COMMAND NOW STANDS TALLER, BUT CAN IT SEE FURTHER?

KATE CHARLET

When I departed the Defense Department last month, I delighted in receiving a now-traditional farewell gift: a photoshopped magazine cover with fake headline zingers about cyber policy topics. The largest headline, dead center, parodied my participation in at least three separate studies on the future of U.S. Cyber Command: “Is it time to elevate? Maybe now? How about now?” So, the president’s announcement last Friday to elevate Cyber Command to a unified combatant command was a welcome one for me, and no doubt for many former colleagues. But, far more importantly, it is a positive step for the United States and its international partners — one that reflects growing, global threats in cyberspace.

Though long-in-coming, the move is no surprise. Congress, growing impatient last year, directed in legislation that the President establish a unified combatant command for cyber operations. Nor is elevation, as Michael Sulmeyer has written, that big a change in how Cyber Command will do business. But there is still plenty to unpack on the specific decisions the Defense Department and White House announced on Friday.

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