When considering readiness within the Army, it is rare to encounter both a domain and capabilities that can change as quickly as within cyberspace, especially over the past few years. To put cyber readiness in perspective, think about what the Army lacked just three years ago. The Army did not have a dedicated Cyber branch to recruit, retain, and refine talent. We did not have clear lines of command and control to field a force in a new and demanding operational domain. We did not have the institutional framework to provide both training and capability development in a domain that demands persistent adaptation and innovation.
Today, the Army can call upon an increasingly mature and capable cyber force to both defend critical military networks and deliver combat power to commanders.
With our Army operating in both an operational and informational environment that is increasingly shaped by cyberspace, we rely on information technologies and networked capabilities for everything from business functions to tactical operations. In the past, networked technologies gave us a huge competitive advantage. Today, that functionality creates new vulnerabilities that threaten our advantage and our Army's readiness-from mission command to mission assurance. Adversaries using cyber tools now have the capability to significantly and asymmetrically disrupt the Army's ability to conduct unified land operations. To maintain our overmatch and win in future ground combat, Army cyberspace operations must provide commanders with the freedom to operate in cyberspace and a wider range of options to amplify our Army's capabilities in support of Unified Land Operations and the Joint Force.
Recognizing the crucial role cyberspace plays in maintaining readiness, the Army made building its cyberspace capabilities a high priority. Accordingly, U.S. Army Cyber Command and Second Army (ARCYBER & 2A) have embraced the Chief of Staff of the Army's readiness priority through eight mutually supporting priorities designed to optimally organize, train and equip the Army's cyberspace forces to support Joint and Army operational requirements. These priorities are: 1) pursue a more defensible network; 2) adapt Mission Command of cyberspace forces; 3) complete the Cyber Mission Force (CMF) build; 4) lead Joint efforts to build Cyberspace Operations infrastructure, platforms and tools; 5) support all deployed forces and three designated FY16 Combat Training Center (CTC) rotations with tactical information dominance capabilities; 6) establish the Army Service Component Command to U.S. Cyber Command and integrate Electronic Warfare, Information Operations and Cyberspace Operations into the Army's Cyberspace Strategy; 7) develop the Army's Executive Agency for cyber training ranges/persistent training environment; and 8) enhance Platform Resilience and Mission Assurance.
ORGANIZING THE ARMY'S CYBERSPACE FORCES
Since its inception in 2010, ARCYBER has placed significant emphasis on achieving unity of command for all Army cyberspace operations and eliciting unity of effort from all Army stakeholders. Both are imperatives for ARCYBER to agilely plan, execute, direct, and support both Joint and Army cyberspace operations in the face of an increasingly dangerous threat. Unifying operational control of all Army cyberspace forces, to include appropriate Signal, Military Intelligence, and cyberspace units is critical to operating, maintaining, securing, and defending the Army's portions of the combined Department of Defense Information Network or DODIN. Cyberspace operations, which includes DODIN Operations (DODIN Ops), Defensive Cyberspace Operations (DCO), and Offensive Cyberspace Operations (OCO), must be undertaken with a fully unified, integrated, and synchronized command structure which can ensure freedom of action in cyberspace and integrated with the other domains of warfare for friendly and coalition forces and deny that same freedom of action to our adversaries.
Cyber is a team endeavor. As such, ARCYBER seeks to integrate across the various cyber community whether it is coordinating with the Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, or the Army Cyber Institute at West Point; or working with our public private partners.
BUILDING THE TOTAL ARMY'S CYBER FORCES
Throughout 2016, establishing the Army's portion of the Cyber Mission Force (CMF) remained ARCYBER's key readiness priority. The CMF is integral to Army readiness because it ensures the Army has the capacity and capability to fulfill its commitment to provide ready cyberspace operations forces to the Army and the Joint force. ARCYBER increased the Army's CMF capacity with all 41 Active Component teams reaching initial operating capacity or better. These teams were employed as they reached initial operating capability, underlining the urgency of this mission set.
To complement the 41 Active Army CMF teams, the Army is building 21 reserve component cyber protection teams (CPTs), 10 US Army Reserve, and 11 Army National Guard teams, which will be trained to the same Joint standards as active component CPTs and available to support missions following a sustainable readiness approach. Integrating the Reserve Component by developing enduring and potential quick reaction missions for Reserve Component CPTs is critical to enhancing readiness.
Towards this end, in February 2016, the Army approved the reorganization of the Army Reserve Information Operations Command into the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group (ARCOG) directly supporting ARCYBER. The ARCOG performs network defense missions with a 469 person brigade and five battalions stationed across the country. The 10 USAR CPTs will be established between FY17 and FY21, along with the appropriate Mission Command element. The ARNG is developing a similar concept plan for the Virginia Army National Guard (VAARNG) Data Processing Unit (DPU).
TRAINING THE TOTAL ARMY'S CYBER FORCES
To keep pace with the training demands of the growing cyber force, ARCYBER has advocated for a comprehensive training approach. ARCYBER is working with the Cyber Center of Excellence to establish a persistent training environment (PTE) at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Currently, cyber training ranges are limited in capacity and cannot support growing requirements. Since the Army, with the addition of Reserve Component cyber teams, has the majority of cyber force personnel across the Services, DoD subsequently designated the Army as the Executive Agent for DoD cyber ranges in 2016. The Army's involvement in developing PTE requirements is a significant responsibility and demonstrates our ability to enable realistic training environments for the Joint force.
EQUIPPING THE CYBER FORCE
The network is the operational platform for cyberspace operations and paramount to readiness. Throughout 2016, pursuing a more defensible network, has been an Army priority. These efforts support the Army's readiness imperative by ensuring Army networks, data, systems, and people are better protected from cyber threats and that Soldiers have improved access to cyberspace from home station to the tactical edge. Through modernization, the Army is enhancing its networked information technology capabilities and cybersecurity by collapsing networks, reducing their attack surface area, improving bandwidth and reliability, and upgrading defense capabilities.
The Army made great progress this past year enhancing readiness by better defining and prioritizing its operational requirements. We collaborated with other cyber stakeholders to produce the first Cyberspace Acquisition, Requirements, and Resourcing annual plan in 2016 as part of a new capabilities model to integrate requirements, capability development and acquisition that can operate at the speed of cyber. The plan defines priorities based on emerging threats and current operational requirements through three goals: equip Army Cyberspace Mission Forces; provide additional cyberspace operations capabilities to Corps and Below Commanders; and turn rapidly developed, demonstrated and evaluated solutions into capabilities.
In pursuit of these goals, the Army began using Other Transaction Authority to bring non-traditional vendors into the procurement process under the Army Cyber Challenge initiative. These vendors produced technology that's already being tested in training environments such as deployable cloud-based toolkits for Army Cyber Protection Teams and brigade-level cyber situational awareness tools for Army commanders to visualize their cyber terrain and inform risk-based decisions to better defend their cyberspace.
ARCYBER is also part of DoD's Hacking4Defense program at Stanford University in California and initiated the Silicon Valley Innovation Pilot, joining ARCYBER experts with industry counterparts to find ways to counteract the use of social media by malicious actors. Some of the tools being developed under these efforts are already being used in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
CONCLUSION
2016 brought significant change for the Army in cyberspace. We completed the initial build of the Army's Cyber Mission Force on schedule and improved the organization, training, and equipping of Army cyberspace operational forces. Our CMF teams have been on mission, supporting combatant commanders and the Army and are participating in operations across the globe, including operations to degrade and destroy ISIL. To reinforce these effects, we must continue to refine our capabilities development processes to take advantage of rapid technological advances.
ARCYBER is a globally committed operational headquarters, globally engaged, with a scope of responsibilities that continues to evolve and grow. In the years ahead, ARCYBER will continue to ensure our Army's readiness by enhancing our cyberspace capabilities, maintaining our overmatch in cyberspace through continuous innovation-delivering new options to Joint and Army commanders and ensuring the Army is ready to fight and win in combat on land and in cyberspace.
Social Sharing