NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–The Defense Department is considering establishing an independent cyber warfare combatant command that could directly report to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).
“We are looking at a separate cyber command and that may be something to do in the future,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said recently at the Air Force Association’s 2012 Air and Sea Exposition here.
U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) is currently a sub-unified command subordinate to U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with service elements including Army Cyber Command, Air Force Cyber Command, Fleet Cyber Command and Marine Forces Cyber Command. The move could give CYBERCOM’s chief more sway and power since he could have a direct line to Pentagon brass, but Carter didn’t divulge many specifics.
DoD spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said recently the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been examining different command options but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has not made a decision on whether to recommend a change to President Obama.
Army Gen. Keith Alexander is the current CYBERCOM chief.
Carter said creating a separate cyber command is not DoD’s only concern for cyber. He said there are three areas for DoD to focus on, the first of which is defense of its own networks.
“It’s still technically very challenging and I have my concerns about the security of our networks and the integrity of our networks,” Carter said.
A second cyber area for DoD to focus on is developing cyber weapons as weapons of war, doing the intelligence preparation and preparing for the deployment of those weapons.
Carter said the third cyber area, protecting the nation from cyber attack, is a little more difficult because the Pentagon is just one of many players when it comes to national cyber defense. The Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies also hold national cyber interests, not to mention private businesses like defense contractors.
“The most important thing is that most of those networks are not owned nor controlled by us,” Carter said regarding private sector networks. “They’re owned and controlled by private entities who typically fail to invest or under-invest in their security. And when we offer to assist them in protecting them, we run up against a lot of barriers that we’re slowly trying to knock down and reason our way through, like anti-trust issues.”
Carter also said the Pentagon will “permanently” station the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the Asia-Pacific region. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].
“Our newest forces are going to the Asia-Pacific first,” Carter said.
Like other Pentagon representatives at the exposition, Carter took aim at Congress, this time for impeding Pentagon export control reform initiatives. Carter said he thinks the main export control agencies–State, Commerce and Defense Departments–are all aligned in their views, but that Congress has different ideas.
“I think we have done a great deal over the last three years to get our processes aligned and get fast common sense answers to export control questions,” Carter said. “Where I cannot give you much optimism, at the moment is elsewhere…You have Congress, which has views of its own.”