AUSA Winter 2013: US Army leaders see much cyber work left to be done

The US Army's cyber capabilities and doctrine have substantially advanced over the past several years, but the service is still coming to grips with its role in the cyber realm.

"I have a real problem with this one," General Robert Cone, head of US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), said about cyber capabilities, "in that I don't think our army has necessarily established the institutional basic support necessary given the importance of cyber for the future".

To help determine the service's role, a team led by TRADOC's Army Capabilities Integration Center is exploring what the army's formal responsibilities might be with regard to cyber.

"I think the institutional army has a greater responsibility - in terms of whether it be establishing a centre of excellence for cyber, with perhaps signals becoming subordinate to that as a school, and then we start developing career paths for cyber warriors as we move to the future," Gen Cone said during a 20 February briefing at an Association of the US Army symposium in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.