Air Force officials have begun working to organize a new Air Force Cyberspace Command, which will rely primarily on elements now under the 8th Air Force to work to provide freedom of access in cyberspace. The Air Force says that criminal conduct threatens the ability to fight on ground, air, land and in space.
Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said that “my duty as the Secretary of the Air Force is to put the nation’s most technologically capable force on a path to do our share of the task of presenting to our combatant commanders, and so to the President and the nation, the trained and ready forces they may need to ensure the same security and freedom of cyberspace that Americans and indeed many in the world already enjoy in the oceans, in the air, and also in space.”
“This does not mean “control” of cyberspace, any more than the other domains of ground or maritime. It does mean making our contribution to securing the benefits of cyberspace for our military and, indirectly, for our national and even world commerce,” he said, according to an Air Force announcement.
Air Force leaders began detailed planning for the new Cyberspace Command last month. The new command ultimately will stand alongside Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command.
