Cyber Command Hires Army General

The U.S. Cyber Command has named an Army general to be its first director of plans and policy.

AOL Defense reports that Maj. Gen. Jennifer Napper will take over the post after most recently heading the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command.

Napper is credited with helping consolidate the Army’s email network into a centralized “cloud” service.

Panetta Approves Framework for ‘Joint Cyber Centers’

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved a plan to create command centers that will link military leaders with intelligence gatherers at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade.

Defense News reports that Panetta authorized a Joint Staff Transitional Cyberspace Operations Command and Control Concept of Operations. In short, it allows for the creation of joint centers that can be stood up at any of the nine current military command centers operated around the globe.

Can the United States Win a Cyber War?

Slate Magazine recently published a column arguing that the United States should avoid a major war involving cyber attacks, because the risk of retaliation is too great.

Columnist Fred Kaplan said that because the United State is the most technology-dependent nation on Earth, leaders should seek to avoid a major cyber attack that could result in escalating warfare.

From Slate:

“Because our social and economic structures are far more dependent on computer networks than those in any other country, a major cyber attack would do far more damage to us. Therefore, the situation in the cyber domain is more like this: We hurt you; you cripple us. That being the case, an offensive cyber strategy amounts to a suicidal trap.”