ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

With the threat of a cyberattack on the U.S. a virtual certainty, the Army is working to grow its cyber warrior force to help close the vulnerability gap, the service’s top civilian leader said.

In testimony before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Army has captured important lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, including that “the information domain is incredibly important, and the force that can dominate in the information space I think will have the advantage in future conflict.” 

For more than a decade, Leon Panetta has warned of a possible “Cyber Pearl Harbor” that would devastate the U.S., hitting businesses, infrastructure and even the military. He brought that message to the Association of the U.S. Army on April 13 as a lunchtime speaker during a Hot Topic event focused on Army installations.

Faced with rising threats from Russia, China and Iran, the U.S. must prepare to respond to irregular forms of warfare, a national security expert said.

Cyber capabilities and weapons are among the most serious threats facing the U.S., the director of national intelligence warned Congress. 

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, intelligence director Avril Haines and Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, Defense Intelligence Agency director, warned the U.S. needs to be better prepared. 

The virtual meeting, once reserved for general officers and senior defense officials, has become a “tremendously powerful” platform that has helped the Army continue its mission during the COVID-19 emergency by connecting soldiers for meetings and even training, a senior Army officer said.

The dangers of the COVID-19 virus go beyond the physical, according to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, which issued a warning about cybercriminals trying to capitalize on peoples’ vulnerabilities during the global pandemic.

“Be suspicious,” soldiers were reminded in a Cybercrime Prevention Flyer issued March 19. The flyer strongly encourages soldiers to take extra steps in verifying unknown people or organizations who ask for personal information or seek to obtain money for goods or services.

The chief of the National Guard Bureau said the Guard is prepared to respond to cyberattacks that are now “daily battlegrounds” in the homeland, citing attacks on school districts and government agencies in Texas earlier this year.

“Our adversaries and nonstate actors use cyber activity to target personnel, commercial and government infrastructure, and the effects can be devastating,” Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel said during a Nov. 5 media roundtable at the Pentagon.

As U.S. Cyber Command and its subordinate Army headquarters approach their 10th anniversary next year, the military’s cyber warfighters must remain resilient and ready, one of the military’s top generals said.

“We’re on a journey, and we’ve been on a journey for the past decade,” said Gen. Paul Nakasone, who is the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service.

As it conducts daily operations that are “short of war,” the U.S. Army Cyber Command is tackling the challenge of improving commanders’ understanding of an invisible enemy that is active in all domains.

In the race to create new cyber and electronic warfare units for multidomain operations, the Army has not fully assessed the risk involved with creating some of those units at an accelerated pace, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.