Integrated cyber defenses towards cyber defense doctrine

Abstract

At the same time that the Department of Defense (DoD) has leveraged Network Centric Warfare concepts to increase the operational effectiveness of U.S. military forces and to gain decision superiority over adversaries, the DoD has become increasingly dependent upon the secure operations of computer networks and infrastructure. As a result, DoD computer network operations have become a vital center of gravity of U.S. military forces. Unfortunately, computer networks are growing faster than the DoD can defend them, while cyber attack sophistication and numbers of attacks continue to rise. In addition, many nation states have begun to invest in developing real cyber warfare capabilities. Therefore, it is critical to U.S. military operations that the DoD has the capability to defend its own networks against aggressive adversaries. Alarmingly, the DoD currently does not have a formal foundation for Computer Network Defense doctrine. All existing doctrine and regulations focus on computer and network security and not warfare. Another challenge in the development of effective doctrine with respect to cyber warfare is that we have little real historical experience of conducting it. However by leveraging the similarities of the air warfighting domain to that of the warfighting domain of cyberspace, this thesis will extrapolate historical doctrinal lessons regarding defensive air power doctrine to build a foundation for the development of Computer Network Defense doctrine.