Thomas H. Barth
Introduction
A. Similarities, Differences, and National Security Implications of Cyberspace and Space
Cyberspace and space share several key similarities. Both are new frontiers for national security that blur traditional ideas about borders, sovereignty, and defense strategy. Both also share a history of starting as intelligence activities rather than as warfighting domains, and both remain closely linked to their intelligence origins.
Both were also originally dominated by the government but have become increasingly essential commercial activities, and the United States (U.S.) military is increasingly turning to the private sector for many of its cyberspace and space services. Both are accessible through the use of sophisticated technology employed by a technically capable workforce
Although space and cyberspace are similar in many respects, there are also differences between them. Space is a naturally occurring part of our earthly surroundings, whereas cyberspace is a manmade phenomenon. Space-based systems typically require massive capital outlays; in comparison, cyberspace operations require much smaller capital outlays.
The similarities and differences between cyberspace and space present several national security issues for the U.S. Three of these issues concern (a) defining the national security relationship between the government and the commercial sector in each domain; (b) the recruiting, professional development, and retention of a technically capable workforce; and (c) achieving unity of effort within each and between both, which includes determining the appropriate relationships between U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and the National Security Agency (NSA), between U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and between both CYBERCOM and SPACECOM and the geographic and functional CCMDs.
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