The standup of a set of cyber security force teams within the Defense Department will give the United States more options to respond to adversaries, the head of U.S. Cyber Command said recently.
“What we are building are the cyber options that would fit that toolkit for the administration and policy makers to determine exactly what to do,” Army Gen. Keith Alexander told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
Alexander disclosed the emerging cyber force teams at a Senate hearing recently, describing three sets of forces that would defend the nation against national level threats, support military combatant commands, and defend the DoD’s information infrastructure. Some of these forces would have offensive roles in protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, although Alexander said the rules of engagement for executing cyber missions are still being worked on with DoD, the White House and other federal agencies.
There will be a learning curve to these rules, Alexander said. The president and secretary of defense will have decision making powers here but over time automatic steps may be instituted, he said, pointing to missile defense needs in “real-time.”
Alexander said that it would be “reasonable to expect” that these new cyber forces would have the ability to stop a distributed denial of service attack and would need the tools and capabilities to do so. He said any additional detail here would get into classified areas.
The military cyber forces would conduct their missions outside of the country, Alexander said, while the Justice Department would focus its operations inside the United States.