ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

After more than 16 months of fighting, the Ukrainian soldiers’ will to fight has emerged as one of the most important lessons of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior intelligence officer said.

Col. Sean Stinchon, director of foreign intelligence for the deputy Army chief of staff, G2, said that as the world watched Russia amass its troops on Ukraine’s border in the latter part of 2021, “we were like, man, the Ukrainians are going to get smoked very quickly.”

As the Army works to build the force of 2030, its cyber corps is focused on finding new talent and supporting its people, an Army leader said. 

“The Army is making such an intentional focus on purposeful talent management of the workforce,” said Maria Ciepiela, chief of the Army’s Cyber Excepted Service Proponency Office. “It’s not just the weapon system that we put out onto the field, it’s the person behind it, the person that did all the logistics to get it everywhere.” 

American businesses and governments at all levels are not yet fully prepared for the dangers of cyberattacks, former Army Undersecretary Patrick Murphy said June 14.

The U.S. needs a tactical and technical cyber advantage over potential adversaries, something it’s currently lacking, Murphy said at an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic forum focused on Army cyber programs.

The Army’s capabilities in the cyber domain are maturing across the “entire information dimension,” and building that information dominance will require finding and retaining the right talent, the commanding general of Army Cyber Command said.

Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, who described her organization as one that has gone from focusing on offensive and defensive cyber operations to one that has “really now matured that across the entire information dimension,” said continuing to build those capabilities “takes a village” of the right people.

Registration is open for an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic focused on Army cyber.

Scheduled for June 14 at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the daylong Army Cyber Hot Topic will feature speakers such as Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of Army Cyber Command, and Patrick Murphy, a former Army undersecretary and AUSA senior fellow.

Army cyber forces must quickly and continually adapt to keep up with ever evolving threats, a panel of experts said Oct. 12 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The Army constantly monitors and analyzes threats from China, which is America’s “pacing challenge,” and other adversaries including Russia, North Korea, Iran and terrorist organizations, said Lt. Gen. Laura Potter, deputy Army chief of staff for intelligence, G-2. “This really is a global problem,” she said.

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.