Cyberspace leaders hold career panel at Academy

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Don Branum
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Senior officers with Air Force Space Command and 24th Air Force held a space and cyberspace career panel in Fairchild Hall's F-1 Auditorium here Monday.

The panel gave cadets in attendance a chance to ask the panelists questions about the future of space and cyberspace and how their future careers might fit into the recently reorganized cyberspace operations Air Force specialties.

Panelists included Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, commander of 24th Air Force; Brig. Gen. Dana Born, the Academy's dean of the faculty; Brig. Gen. Dave Warner, AFSPC's chief information officer and director of communications and information; Col. Karen Cleary, director of intelligence for AFSPC; Col. Thomas French from Space Command's intelligence directorate; Col. Theresa Giorlando, commander of the 689th Combat Communications Wing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.; Col. Robert Skinner, commander of the 688th Information Operations Wing at Lackland AFB, Texas; and Army Col. Burt Biebuyck from the Joint Task Force - Global Network Operations center in Arlington, Va.

"We need folks with technical backgrounds who can take those backgrounds and put them to use," said General Warner, who was among the audience during the panel. "Information is operations, and operations take place at every base every day. No matter what the mission is, the mission can't get done without the network. Know the network -- how to protect it, how to defend it and how to deliver capabilities through it."

Cyberspace experts cannot be focused on the network for its own sake, General Webber said. Instead, they must think of cyberspace as a weapon system or a means of providing a capability.

"Our job isn't about the network," he explained. "It's about the mission. Our focus must be on supporting the mission, and the first time we say 'We have to protect the network,' we lose our credibility."

Because cyberspace is a weapon system, everyone with access to military networks must act accordingly, Colonel Cleary said.

"Each of us is a cyber warrior, as our commander, Gen. Robert Kehler, reminds us every day," she said. "There are people out there doing bad things on the 'Net every day that we have to defend against."

One cadet in the audience asked about the acquisitions process for the cyberspace mission. Colonel Skinner responded and illustrated a multi-layered process that covers timelines ranging from years to weeks.

"We have a senior airman (in the 688th) who is out there developing tools on a daily basis from a defensive and network operations capability," Colonel Skinner said. More traditional acquisition processes look at what cyberspace operators will need in six months, nine month or one to two years.

"We have different acquisition processes for different timeframes," Colonel Skinner said. "We may need tools in hours or days, depending on the tool, and that tool may not be usable again because once we use it, enemies will have an understanding of what the tool can do."

Another cadet asked about international law and how it applies to cyberspace. Colonel French fielded the question.

"We've studied that and run through the political wickets," Colonel French said. "Before the Joint Forces Component Command - Network Warfare can conduct any operation, a 26-member task force addresses it from a policy standpoint (and) a legal standpoint ... it has to be queued up. This may be one of the ways in which the new 'cyber czar' may come into play with regard to whether a request gets to the president to make a final decision."

This led to a question from a third cadet, who asked how the Posse Comitatus Act -- the law that prevents the military from acting against U.S. citizens -- affects cyberspace operations. The Department of Defense works with law enforcement and other government agencies in cases where American citizens are suspected of acting against the United States in cyberspace, Colonel Biebuyck said.

"It's not a uniformed or (U.S. Code) Title 10 response," the colonel said. "Cyberwarfare is a multi-agency area. Accomplishing the cyberspace mission is all about working with agency partners for legal authority, national policy and diplomatic authority."

Twenty-fourth Air Force is postured so that senior leaders within the numbered air force have quick access to information from a variety of sources.

"I have 24-hour (Office of Special Investigation) support, so if I need law enforcement information, it's there," General Webber said. "We have Title 50 intelligence officers working right alongside Title 10 folks." In addition, the National Guard has established combat communications and organized them by region so that they can quickly fix infrastructure in the wake of a natural disaster or terrorist incident.

The panelists thanked the cadets for their questions, and each cadet who asked a question received a coin from General Warner. The general encouraged cadets in the audience to "Study, study, study," and several panelists pointed out that cyberspace operations would touch cadets' careers in some way, even if the cadets went into non-cyberspace career fields.

At the Academy, cadets can learn more about cyberspace not only through the curriculum but also through a cyberwarfare club and through research opportunities in the Center for Cyberspace Research, General Born said.

"Cyberspace is not just about the technology," she said. "There's a political aspect to it, and there's an ethical aspect to it. We work toward developing the knowledge, skills and responsibilities that we know the Air Force will need but that we can't predict."