Here Comes the Navy Cyber Forces

The Navy plans to stand up its new cyber outfit, Navy Cyber Forces, at the Joint Expeditionary Base in Little Creek - Fort Story in Virginia on jan. 26. It will ultimately have some 40,000 cyber warriors under its command, I'm told.

The service also plans to launch formally its Fleet Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., home of the National Security Agency, three days later.

Navy Cyber Forces will include information warfare and intelligence officers, enlisted intelligence, information technology personnel, cryptology technicians and for some odd reason, meteorologists and oceanographers, as I reportedin October 2009.

Vice Admiral H. Denby Starling II, commander of the Naval Network Warfare Command, will run both NETWARCOM and Cyber Forces until new two-star commanders are tapped to run the organizations.

Vice Admiral Bernard J. "Barry" McCullough will run the Fleet Cyber Command, which is supposed to work with the new Defense Department Cyber Command, also slated to be based at Fort Meade.

That command however has run into a congressional roadblock, which I think resulted from whining by the Homeland Security Department.