THE Pentagon plans to create a new US military command for cyberspace, stepping up preparations by the American armed forces to conduct offensive and defensive computer warfare.
The military command will complement a civilian effort announced by US president Barack Obama yesterday, which will overhaul the way the United States safeguards its computer networks.
Mr Obama announced the creation of a White House office that
will co-ordinate a multibillion-dollar effort to restrict access to government computers and protect systems that run the stock exchanges, clear global banking transactions and manage the country's air traffic control system.
Mr Obama said this was a "transformational moment" for the US, where computer networks were attacked millions of times a day.
"We're not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country," he said, calling cyber-threats one of the most serious economic and military dangers the nation faced.
He said he would soon pick the person he wanted to head cyber security. While the interconnected world offered great promise, Mr Obama cautioned: "Cyberspace is real, and so is the risk that comes with it."
White House officials said Mr Obama was expected to sign a classified order in the coming weeks to create the military cybercommand. It is a recognition that the US has a growing number of computer weapons in its arsenal and must prepare strategies for their use.
The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken by the Bush administration, which authorised several computer-based attacks, but never resolved the question of how the US government would prepare for warfare fought over digital networks.
Initially at least, the new command will focus on organising the various components and capabilities now scattered across the four US armed services.
Officials declined to describe potential offensive operations, but said they viewed cyberspace as comparable to traditional battlefields. "We need to be able to operate within that domain just like on any battlefield, which includes protecting our freedom of movement and preserving our capability to perform in that environment," said a Pentagon spokesman.
Although Pentagon civilian officials and military officers said the new command was expected initially to be a subordinate headquarters under the military's Strategic Command, which controls nuclear operations as well as cyber-defences, it might eventually become an independent command.
"No decision has been made," said Lieutenant Colonel Eric Butterbaugh, another Pentagon spokesman. "Just as the White House has completed its 60-day review of cyberspace policy, we are looking at how the department can best organise itself to fill our role in implementing the administration's cyber policy."
One of the main issues has been whether the Pentagon or the National Security Agency is best equipped to engage in offensive operations. That partly hinges on how much control should be given to US spy agencies, as they are prohibited from acting on American soil.
One senior intelligence official said recently: "These attacks start in other countries, but they know no borders. So how do you fight them if you can't act inside and outside the United States?"
