Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday signed off on a memo that authorizes US Strategic Command to establish a subordinate US Cyber Command. That confirms the hint by Deputy Defense Secretary
William Lynn last week during a Center for Strategic and International Studies
event that an announcement was imminent. He said a subunified command would not need Congressional approval, but the commander would be subject to Senate confirmation. According to the Gates memo (
Daily Report obtained
a copy), STRATCOM boss Air Force Gen.
Kevin Chilton is to establish the command "effective immediately." Gates wants to have the director of the National Security Agency, currently Army Lt. Gen.
Keith Alexander, also serve as the head of CYBERCOM and intends to ask the President to authorize the position as a four-star slot. The deputy commander would carry three stars. Gates also indicated that Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
Michelle Flournoy is to "lead a review of policy and strategy to develop a comprehensive approach to DOD cyberspace operations." In the meantime, Chilton is to develop the implementation plan for CYBERCOM, present it to Gates by Sept. 1, in anticipation of an initial operating capability for the new command on Oct. 1 and full operating capability a year later. Gates's preferred location for the new command is Ft. Meade, Md.
one major aspect of the QDR that I have insisted that we try and get away from, it is this construct that we've had, for such a long time, that we size our forces to be able to fight two major combat operations," so stated Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week at a Pentagon press briefing. Gates went on to say that he wants to focus on a so-called hybrid-warfare construct that accounts for "conflict in the future [that] will slide up and down a scale, both in scope or scale and lethality." Lawmakers are skeptical of the Pentagon's ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review, including Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) who says claims that the rationale for 2010 procurement decisions will become clear in the QDR are merely "a stall." House defense authorizers in their version of the 2010 defense bill would direct the Government Accountability Office to "assess the degree to which DOD is following the law during its QDR process." And, they would create an independent national defense panel to review the QDR's effectiveness, specifically to recommend how the panel would "improve the decision-making process for determining national security objectives." (This QDR, per senior defense officials, will be "leader driven" and carry forward Gates budget-driven reshaping.) There's more. The House defense authorizers also want the Pentagon to submit the force structure requirements "used to guide the QDR process," whether classified or not. (Gates June 18 press brief transcript)