Cyber space operations face internal hurdles

Fort Lauderdale - The director of the Army Global Network Operations and Security Center (A-GNOSC) said he envisions a single Army information technology service provider – a command that is a joint, interagency, multi-national enterprise encompassing U.S. cyber operations. What Col. Barry Hensley said he manages today, in contrast, is a redundant, complex Army command on the verge of a revolution to bring the military into the 21st century.

“We’ve got to figure out the lanes between the combatant command and [the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology (NETCOM)]. We’ve got to de-conflict the different authorities and synchronize efforts,” Hensley said today at the AFCEA LandWarNet conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hensley said the impenetrable layers of authority not only slow down the defense of U.S. military cyber networks, but could present security threats amid struggles to identify server and hardware locations, respond to incident reports and trace the origins of potential threats. Those activities are further tangled by the complexity of the divisions in military and government network architecture.

“I’m embarrassed to say it, but sometimes problems go unresolved because we just can’t find the box,” Hensley added. “We’ve learned lessons in configuration management from issues with servers under desks and in basements that people aren’t even aware of. It’s the nature of this business, the decentralized architecture.”

He acknowledged the substantial task in protecting military information networks, admitting even he isn’t sure those networks are completely secure. “While networks may be defendable, there are networks that are not securable – the adversary will always find a way in,” Hensley said.

However, Army Brig. Gen. LaWarren Patterson, deputy commanding general of NETCOM, is optimistic about the establishment of a cohesive, technology-forward organization that better protects sensitive military data.

“Every day when I come to work, I say, ‘Welcome to the 21st century,’” Patterson said. “We’re exploring the idea of enterprise capabilities that are [departmentwide] instead of each service have its own. We want to avoid the duplicity and improve jointness.”

While he acknowledged hurdles in security enforcement, balancing priorities and the “unknown variable of how a cyber command fits into information security,” Patterson added that others within the Defense Department may be looking to the Army for leadership.

“A cyber command will be a force of change. It will be a force that brings together jointness,” he said.