US NSA chief says first troop deployment of US Cyber Mission Force in 2 months

The US ‘Cyber Army’ will partly be operational within coming two months claimed, ‘Cyber Command Chief’ and ‘Director of National Security Agency’, Navy Admiral Michael S. Rogers. The intention to set up the ‘Cyber Mission Force’ was announced by the Cyber Command in year 2012.

Just 2 months ago members of the Congress, senior officials and many cyber-experts were aggressively demanding for ‘Cyber Command’ (USCYBERCOM) to be elevated to a ‘Full Unified Command. The issue has been grabbing widespread attention.

“The US Cyber Army includes both military officials and civilian experts”, clarified the NSA Director, Admiral Rogers. There is ongoing work to fulfil the many legal requirements, and as soon as that is completed, the Cyber Army will be ready to combat its challenges. The need for specialised manpower in the field of cyber security is rising with each passing day, and even before the cyber army is activated in entirety, many of its modules will already be functioning.

US’s ‘Cyber Mission Force’ consists of more than 6,200 people divided into 133 teams. 50% of the teams work solely to keep the military computers secure.

It is made up of 13 national mission teams, 68 cyber protection teams, 27 combat mission teams and 25 support teams , and will be built and fully operational by Sept. 30, 2018.

“Today, we have 27 teams that are fully operational and 68 that have attained initial operational capability. I am working on increasing our capabilities and we definitely have greater alacrity than those trying to attack US”, Admiral Rogers said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee

The responsibility for both cyber attack and defense is being laid on this army, and it is indicated that if deemed necessary, the army could deployed to other countries as well.

In February this year, the Cyber Command openly declared ‘cyber war’ against the terrorist group ‘IS’. America’s Deputy Secretary of Defence, Robert Work indicated that they are going to attack the ‘IS’ with ‘cyber bombs’. The operation initiated against the ‘IS’, is being recognised as the ‘Cyber Command’s’ very first war campaign. After the announcement of this campaign, the demand for elevating the status of ‘Cyber Command’ started to gain strength.

Giving the ‘Cyber Command’ the designation of a ‘Full Unified Command’ is said to the first phase of America’s combative policy in the cyber field. The independently operating battle unit in the form of ‘Cyber Mission Force’ is a part of this combative policy.

According to the US Department of Defense, USCYBERCOM “plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.”