Cyber and EW: It's about effects, not missions

http://www.c4isrnet.com/story/military-tech/cyber/2015/12/01/cyber-and-ew-its-about-effects-not-missions/76620242/

Amber Corrin, Senior Staff Writer December 1, 2015

Across the military, the services are moving electronic warfare and cyberspace operations ever closer together as the two disciplines become increasingly intertwined, dependent on each other and a source of growing pains. And while that integration is happening across the Defense Department, it's the battlefield effects that should be the focus, according to a top Air Force official.

The push to combine EW and cyber is well established – at Fort Gordon, Georgia, the Army will co-locate its cyber and signals headquarters, and the service's CIO/G-6 office currently is assessing integration of some cyber, signal and electronic warfare operations. But more than integration, it's about synchronizing operations, effects and personnel.

In cyberspace, "we provide pathways for information. We deny adversaries information. It's the same mission…that we do in different domains. And when you do it in different domains that means you have to have different operators that are trained and expert in those domains," Gen John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, said at the Association of Old Crows symposium in Washington Dec. 1. "We're not trying to synchronize the mission of electronic warfare with the mission of cyberspace – cyberspace is not a mission. What we're trying to do is synchronize electronic warfare with the domain of cyberspace and the other domains as well."

It's the operational and tactical effects that should be emphasized rather than doctrine and lexicon, Hyten said, calling on the services to arm troops with an informational edge in addition to an arsenal of offensive and defensive measures. The common thread? The electromagnetic spectrum.

"The effect that we're trying to create is that any time we put an airman, soldier, sailor or Marine in harm's way we want them to have total information superiority," he said. "In order to do that they have to conduct the missions that they need to do in air and space and cyberspace, and one of those missions is electronic warfare in order to achieve the effects."

Achieving those missions means making changes in the way DoD operates, including culture, training and budgeting. Hyten pointed out that at Space Command, some $3 billion is dedicated to cyber, with $2.7 billion going toward network operations. The remaining $300 million is directed to offensive and defensive cyber operations – leaving nothing for defending weapons systems.

"It's critically important to think about defending weapons systems in the domains we're operating in," Hyten said. "Every mission in the military – ground, sea, air, space – it's all interlinked, all connected, and the power is when it works in the multi-domain environment to create the effects in the battlefield we need it in."