Chris Carroll had a very useful article for Stars and Stripes covering the back and forth over CyberComm’s elevation to full combatant command status. CyberComm is currently under U.S. Strategic Command; elevating it seems to be the natural move in light of cybersecurity’s importance to DoD. Carroll noted a few of the pros and cons:
Many experts say the move would make sense, cementing cyber warfare as a focal point of the Defense Department’s 21st-century national security responsibilities . . . Others suggest that once the current wave of cyber enthusiasm passes, a top-level Cyber Command could lose steam and end up like U.S. Space Command . . . For now, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey seems to be on the side of the naysayers, recently telling the Senate Armed Services committee that while an independent CYBERCOM might make sense in several years, “we just aren’t there yet.”
Other concerns include cost, the close relationship between the NSA and CyberComm, and the relationship between other combatant commands.
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