U.S. Army Cyber Command: 21,000 ‘Cyber Warriors’ providing ‘Geek Fire Support’

Posted Aug 25, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Aug 25, 2011 at 04:02 PM

Listening to Lt. Gen. Rhett Hernandez talk was kind of like listening to someone describe a cross between the movies Tron and This Is The Army, minus the overbaked drama of the former and the hokie comedy of the latter.

Hernandez, the keynote Speaker at Thursdays LandWarNet awards luncheon, is the commander of the U.S. Army Cyber Command/2nd Army, which was stood up last October.

Call me a geek, but it was a fascinating listen.

In an age where government and business computer systems are under constant attack from nations, jihadis and rogue hackers, the concept of an army fighting battles in cyberspace is no longer the realm of science fiction writers.

There are currently about 21,000 “Army cyber warriors” around the globe assigned to the command, providing “geek fire support” for U.S. military operations, Hernandez said.

The goal of the command is the same as any other Army unit, said Hernandez.

“Seize, attain and exploit the initiative,” he said, “and seek the same level of freedom to operate that the Army seeks in the land domain.”

Only instead of trading gunfire with the enemy in places like Wardak, the cyber warriors, said Hernandez, are mainly tasked with doing battle electronically.

In addition to conducting operations to ensure full freedom for the U.S. and its allies in cyberspace and denying the enemy the same, the command is also responsible for defending all Army networks, Hernandez said.

“Twenty-first Century battles will be defined by cyberspace,” he said.

As part of “owning” the cyber battlefield, the Army is developing Army Cyber 2020, a plan to vastly improve the service’s electronic warfighting capabilities.

Taking a page from President John F. Kennedy’s call to build up the space program in the 1960s, one of the plan’s main missions is to find, develop and maintain military and civilian personnel with the necessary scientific, engineering, math and computer skills.

Right now, said Hernandez, good, old-fashioned Army bureaucracy is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.

To a lesser extent, culture may be as well.

During a question and answer session, one query – about how computer geeks will fit into the highly regimented Army life - garnered hearty laughs.

Hernandez said that won’t be as big a problem as it might seem.

The Army needs young men and women with the right skills and those with the right skills are looking for focus and purpose.

“We will work hand in hand to outthink and outmaneuver potential adversaries,” he said.

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