Crossroads Blog | CYBER SECURITY LAW AND POLICY

Cyber Command

Military leaders seek higher profile for Pentagon’s Cyber Command unit: WashPo

On May 1st, 2012, Ellen Nakashima reported for the Washington Post on CyberComm's bid for full combatant command status.  According to the article, Gen. Dempsey (chairman of the JCS) will recommend that DefSec Panetta make the upgrade.  Combatant commands are joint service US military organizations with responsibility for either defined geographic areas (usually continents) or military functions.  There are 9 combatant commands, and CyberComm currently falls under Strategic Command.

The WashPo article explained that by upgrading CyberComm to full combatant command status, CyberComm would benefit from more direct access to the chairman of the JCS and the SecDef, enjoy better access to resources, and cement cyber's strategic importance to the US national security calculus.

The upgrade raises a few other interesting issues; you can find more in the WashPo article here.

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