May 2009

Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Wars in Cyberspace – NYTimes.com

The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

This is a complete overhaul of US safeguards for its computer networks set in motion by President Obama. The administration will be creating a new White House office that reports to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. This new effort has the “multibillion-dollar” price tag but will secure access to government computers and protect systems that run stock exchanges, global economic transactions and traffic control systems. I’d say it’s money well spent.

But he [President Obama] is expected to sign a classified order in coming weeks that will
create the military cybercommand, officials said. It is a recognition
that the United States already has a growing number of computer weapons
in its arsenal and must prepare strategies for their use — as a
deterrent or alongside conventional weapons — in a wide variety of
possible future conflicts.

UDPATE: Here’s more coverage from Wired

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