he Army is continuing efforts to bring cyber operations to the front
lines, with a recent exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif., where Army cyber
forces provided support to both offensive and defensive operations as a
means of working these new capabilities into tactical units.
This exercise is a key element in an ongoing pilot, Cyber Support to
Corps and Below, to help the Army develop, understand and employ cyber
operations into tactical formations, an Army release stated.
Several Army units took part in the exercise. They included the 780th
Military Intelligence Brigade from Fort Meade, Maryland, an Army Cyber
Protection Brigade from Fort Gordon, Georgia, Cyberspace Opposing Force
from the 1st Information Operations Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia,
the 201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade from Joint Base
Lewis—McChord and Fort Gordon's Army Cyber Center of Excellence and 7th
Signal Command.
The exercise expands upon previous brigade combat team rotations as
part of the pilot. In an exercise last fall at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,
Wash., cyber warriors were deployed with a brigade combat team in preparation for the exercise at Fort Irwin.
The cyber elements “integrated early and often” with the brigade,
said pilot lead Lt. Col. Jonathan Burnett—from familiarizing the unit
with cyber operations, to covering capabilities, execution criteria and
rules of engagement.
Leaders said the presence of cyber planners helped the unit better understand the capabilities of cyber on the battlefield.
Military officials have previously expressed the need to integrate
greater cyber and network capabilities with the full force. Col. William
Hartman, commander of the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade in the
Army’s Intelligence and Security Command, said in October
that the pilot programs are intended to “define what cyber capabilities
to integrate at the corps level and below, determine the expeditionary
capability required to support our deployed tactical forces, leverage
our combat training centers and operational deployments.” That also
would help develop long-term requirements for combat training centers,
he said at the annual Association of the United States Army.
During the recent exercise, teams also worked to create a realistic
cyber environment, making improvements to the training center’s
infrastructure. The teams replicated real-world network providers by
establishing Wi-Fi access points and providing laptops and smartphones.
“One of the main reasons we're out here is to gain context for
current problems, so as we look out to future problems and try to
develop future solutions, we have an understanding of what the cyber
force is facing now, here at the NTC and at the tactical level,” said
Capt. Matthew Hutchison from the Army Cyber Institute at West Point,
N.Y. Knowledgeable cyber planners provided after-action reviews during
and following the rotation to help Army decision-makers make
improvements to cyber training, manning, rules of engagement and
training.
“We hope to add value by understanding the current challenges facing
staff integration and cyber planning at the maneuver headquarters, as
well as the expeditionary nature of cyber enabling at the maneuver
headquarters,” Capt. Frederick Waage, another West Point cyber
researcher, said.
Defensesystems