US Air Force,
SAN ANTONIO: In the latest Letter to Airmen, Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne discusses cyberspace operations and how the Air Force is extending its global vigilance, reach and power into cyberspace.
Secretary Wynne said that our adversaries are attempting to access American servers that contain sensitive data or trying to jam and misdirect precision weapons. They also use radio transmitters to detonate improvised explosive devices that kill Americans, coalition allies and civilians.
“In response to these threats, Airmen are actively 'flying and fighting' in cyberspace. Our cyber Airmen's work is a prerequisite to all military operations: ensuring freedom of action across the electromagnetic spectrum, which in turn contributes to freedom from attack and freedom to attack in all other domains: land, sea, air and space,” the secretary said.
The Letter:
Cyberspace Operations
As I travel the world to see our Airmen in action, they continually impress me with their incredible courage, enduring dedication, and amazing innovations. We're harnessing this spirit of innovation as we redefine air power by extending our Global Vigilance, Reach and Power into cyberspace.
Just as Billy Mitchell endeavored to prove the potential of air power to a skeptical nation, we must now prove the critical importance of cyberspace as a warfighting domain. In the past, we viewed electromagnetic energy (e.g. computer networks, communications systems, GPS) as an enabler to air operations. Today, the Air Force recognizes cyberspace as a warfighting domain, along with air and space, in which we must fight to gain and maintain dominance.
Our adversaries realize the asymmetric opportunities of cyberspace. They attempt to access American industrial servers that contain sensitive data, exploit electromagnetic energy to try and jam or misdirect our precision weapons, and use radio transmitters to detonate improvised explosive devices, killing Americans, Coalition allies, and innocent civilians. In response to these threats, Airmen are actively “flying and fighting” in cyberspace. Our cyber Airmen's work is a prerequisite to all military operations: ensuring freedom of action across the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), which in turn contributes to freedom from attack and freedom to attack in all other domains – land, sea, air and space.
To help us operate more effectively in cyberspace, we created a new command – AFCYBER at Barksdale AFB – and are developing new career fields dedicated to cyber. Under Lieutenant General Bob Elder's visionary leadership, AFCYBER's mission is to provide combat-ready forces, trained and equipped to conduct sustained offensive and defensive operations across the EMS. To fully integrate cyber with air and space operations, the command will leverage, consolidate, and integrate Air Force cyber capabilities and functions, creating synergies among organizations and teaming more effectively with the joint community. We are partnering with industry and academia to build cyber innovation centers allowing us to gain and maintain a technological advantage over our Nation's adversaries. And we are finding new ways to harness cyber's unique capability – delivering operational effects using non-kinetic means at the speed of light – to set the strategic and tactical conditions for victory.
America's Airmen will continue to dominate air and space in the 21st Century. We're now also applying that same innovation, energy, and determination in cyberspace. As we extend our Global Vigilance, Reach and Power into this vital new warfighting domain, we must continue to draw upon the pioneering heritage that has made us the world's premier Air, Space, and now, Cyberspace power.
