Pentagon to create cyberspace command

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 08:08 Press TV
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US, June 24 (Press TV) The US Department of Defense will create a Cyber Command to protect Pentagon's networks of computers within the virtual space of information.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced on Tuesday that his department will set up command centers for military's cyber operations around Maryland, Washington D.C., in order to defend military systems.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters that the new DoD headquarters will strengthen present measures crafted to boost America's cyber protection efforts.
"This command is going to focus on the protection and operation of DoD's networks," Whitman said. "This command is going to do what is necessary to be able to do that."
Whitman refrained from elaborating on the details of the scheme and dodged a question about the HQ's capacity to launch and coordinate cyber-linked warfare.
The development comes in the wake of a presidential announcement last month in which President Barack Obama instigated the notion of a new government body in an attempt to combat crimes in the realm of virtual reality.
"Our defense networks are constantly probed. There are millions of scans every day," noted Whitman.
He went on to say that over 100 intelligence agencies worldwide have at least once tried to penetrate US defense networks, "We also know that foreign governments are trying to develop offensive cyber capabilities."
"The power to disrupt and destroy, once the sole province of nations, now also rests with small groups and individuals, from terrorist groups to organized crime to industrial spies to hacker activists, to teenage hackers," he added.
However, he rejected the idea of a new US scheme to police the cyberspace.
Presently, United States' existing Strategic Command in Nebraska monitors the efforts made to fight cyber offenses and the new authority will be a “sub-unified command” within the Nebraska establishment.
The US has, on various occasions, singled out China as the prime source of cyber attacks on it defense department operations.

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