U.S. Searches for Cyber Doctrine With Russians “Ten Years Ahead”

In the nearly seven years since the U.S. Department of Defense declared cyberspace a “domain” of warfare – alongside land, air, sea, and space – the Pentagon has developed an overarching Cyber Strategy to guide their efforts in the new domain and raised a Cyber Command that has grown from 700 military and civilian employees to an expected 6,200 personnel by October 2018.

What would it take to move toward a fully independent Cyber Command – free from the reins of the National Security Agency, which it has long been tied to both operationally and administratively? At a time when cybersecurity is now in every American’s lexicon, how will CYBERCOM undertake its mission of defending military networks, securing critical infrastructure, bolstering the country’s deterrence posture, and taking the virtual fight to foreign adversaries – from non-state actors such as ISIS to nation-states risking international stability?