Role of U.S. Cyber Command still open-ended.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Insider

The Pentagon's Cyber Command is growing rapidly, but its responsibilities as the protector of U.S. military information networks are still vaguely defined. Command officials are not yet clear on how they would respond to a cyber-attack that, most likely, would not just affect military networks but also civilian systems. They also are wrestling with larger philosophical questions about how cyberspace fits into military strategy. Unfamiliarity with the scope of the threat also is making it difficult for Cybercom to determine how best to defend networks and what investments it must make for the future.

"There is a real dearth of doctrine and policy in the world of cyberspace," said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Robert E. Schmidle Jr., deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command. One of the organization's biggest challenges, he said, is to figure out how to "operationalize" cyberspace, or as he put it, find the "nexus between the technological and the conceptual."

A broad discussion must take place inside and outside the Defense Department about "how we will deal with cyberthreats," Schmidle said.

On the policy side, one of the biggest uncertainties are the lines of authority in case of a cyber-attack, he said. "How is it...