Joint Staff readies cyber operations plan

Military officials are readying a new plan central to how U.S. forces will operate in cyberspace, according to the Joint Staff’s vice director for command, control, communications and computer systems. Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael Basla said officials in his directorate, dubbed J-6, are developing what he called an “implementation plan” to complement the classified National Military Strategy for Cyberspace Operations. Senior Defense Department leaders approved that document last December. Work on the implementation plan, which likely also will be classified, is coordinated by members of a new cyber operations division in the J-6 directorate, Basla said during a Sept. 5 luncheon in Arlington, Va. AFCEA sponsored the event. Basla said the document will have implications for how the Pentagon buys and budgets for equipment and services required for cyberspace operations. The implementation plan also will include a common lexicon to standardize cyberspace terminology, he said. Basla added that officials will introduce the plan to senior representatives from the services’ operations directorates — a group known as the “tank” in Pentagon lingo — this fall.