Despite its inclusion as a full-fledged warfighting domain and the stand up of an entirely new combatant command to oversee operations in that domain, cyberwarfare has yet to be fully embraced by the services as a true combat option, a number of senior service leaders said last week.

Current approach to cyberwarfare capabilities at the operational and tactical level is not “truly integrated to the level we need to,” Air Force Col. Kevin Wooton, commander, 67th Network Warfare Wing, said during a Defense Daily-sponsored cyberwarfare symposium in Arlington, Va.

As a result, combat commanders are not able to fully utilize the current cyberwarfare capabilities into their battle plans, according to Wooton.

That said, ongoing efforts within the cyber community within the Pentagon would be have cyberwarfare capabilities available to the warfighter in the same way conventional capabilities–such as close air support or field artillery strikes — are provided, Wooton noted.

The first step needed to drive down that understanding to the tactical level is to integrate combat planners with cyberwarfare experience into the headquarters-level directorates, Army Col William Duggan, chief of operations at Army Cyber Command’s operations integration center, said at the same symposium.

Each of the services need to bring more cyberwarfare-billeted personnel “in the 2, 3 and 6,” Duggan said, referring to the Army’s intelligence (G2), information technology (G6) and strategic plans and programs (G3) shops.

Further, the services and DoD will have to take that integration a step further, by ensuring that any cyber integration strategy can also be used in a joint environment, Lt. Col. Jeffery Lipson, U.S. Central Command regional team leader for Marine Forces Cyber Command, said at the same event.

Even though American forces “are engaged in full-spectrum cyber operations” across the globe, those forces remain vulnerable on the virtual battlefield, due to these disconnects within the services, Lipson said.

Along with a better understanding of cyberwarfare capabilities into combat operations, that integration would also help with the development of service-specific cyber requirements and resource them adequately. Currently, there is a “mismatch” between requirements and resourcing in the cyber realm, Cmdr. Scott Coughlin, director of current operations for U.S Fleet Cyber Command, noted at the same event.

Duggan noted that the services are beginning to work hard at rectifying that mismatch, working cyber-centric requirements more aggressively in the upcoming budget proposal, or program objective memorandum in Pentagon parlance, for fiscal year 2013 and beyond.

Continuing to push that emphasis on cyberwarfare, from budgeting and planning to operations, is something service leaders and DOD cannot afford to fall by the wayside.

“It’s a fundamental thing that has to happen as we move forward,” Duggan added. “This is an issue for policymakers..and commanders.”