Posturing U.S. Cyber Forces to Defend the Homeland
By Col. Jamel Neville
| August 22, 2023
As revisionist powers seek to disrupt the international order and cyber threats to critical infrastructure persist, the Department of Defense (DoD) must effectively position its cyber forces and capabilities to defend against cyber-attacks before they hit the homeland. An attack against the US power grid could result in multiple failures in life-sustaining infrastructure and significantly impact Joint Force power-projection capabilities. U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) must work closely with U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) to orchestrate federal and non-federal stakeholders’ cyber authorities, capabilities, and equities to posture DoD cyber forces to respond with speed and agility. However, the myriad of federal cyber laws, regulations, authorities, and public and private sector stakeholder equities could impede DoD’s response efforts. National cybersecurity is “a team sport,” but players tend to use different playbooks or play by different rules. Tools such as a DoD “Complex Catastrophe Cyber Stakeholders, Communications, Authorities, and Narratives” (C3 SCAN) framework could enable USNORTHCOM and USCYBERCOM to foster collaboration, validate plans and orders, enumerate and prioritize mission-relevant terrain in cyberspace, and ensure readiness for Defense Support to Cyber Incident Response (DSCIR).
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