Army Cyber Command looks to expand its scope

As head of Army Cyber Command, Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty seeks to expand the command’s role beyond cyberspace to include electronic and information warfare.

“We have to be careful about boxing ourselves in with the word cyber,” Fogartysaid during an Aug. 2 event hosted by the Association of the Army.

“We’ve defined cyber so finely,” he said, “probably out of necessity at the beginning, [but] we’re going to have to broaden our aperture.”

Fogarty said initial designs for U.S. Cyber Command and ARCYBER weren’t “exactly right,” and the future might hold a name change that addresses the widening and changing battlescape.

“In three, four, five years from now, we’ll no longer be called Army Cyber Command. We’re going to be Army Information Warfare Operations, or Information Dominance Operations,” he said. “We’re going to be something else that’s actually going to reflect the totality of the capabilities, the challenges, the opportunities of operating in this environment.”

Fogarty, who has been in the position about two months, took over from now-National Security Agency director and U.S. Cyber Command head, Gen. Paul Nakasone.

ARCYBER leadership will convene the week of Aug. 6 to finalize its mission statement and priorities for the next two to three years: operate and defend networks, data and weapons systems; affect enemy systems; integrate future-proof capabilities; increase lethality in electronic warfare and cyber; boost workforce; and improve partnerships. (Note: In this context, "lethal" means disabling a network.) 

Today ARCYBER is responsible for securing and defending the network and disrupting enemy systems. But going forward, Fogarty said, the command must mimic enemy capabilities and better “integrate and synchronize information operations, military deception, psychological operations, electronic warfare, all intelligence disciplines.”

To help with that, Fogarty said, there will be an emphasis on recruiting more from adjacent disciplines -- particularly electronic operations, as there is a need for more tool developers.

Fogarty said the Army's meeting, which will cover several disciplines -- information operations, electronic warfare, cyber, intelligence and signal -- is a rare opportunity that gives him and other new commanders a chance to align their priorities early in their tenure.

The August leadership meeting will focus on several programs across electronic warfare, intelligence, network and information operations. A more-senior group will discuss mission, vision and priorities, which should be published in the next two weeks, Fogarty told reporters.