ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

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.

The Army is hardening its networks and strengthening cooperation with allies and partners to protect against cyberattacks and information warfare, a panel of experts said May 17 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Honolulu.

“If you’re going to make a very quick transition to crisis or conflict, that is not the time to be hardening your networks, that is not the time to be wondering if your allies and partners have hardened their networks,” said Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commanding general of Army Cyber Command.

The Army is reworking its sustainment doctrine and training soldiers in combat support and combat service support jobs to be “more datacentric” in preparation for large-scale combat, the Army’s top logistician said.

In remarks at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army as part of its Coffee Series, Lt. Gen. Charles Hamilton, deputy Army chief of staff for logistics, G-4, said the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February caused the Army sustainment sector to rethink its posture for large-scale combat and how soldiers are preparing to support the warfighter.

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.” 

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.

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 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.