N THE 1983 FILM WAR GAMES,

a young hacker breaks into a military supercomputer and, while using it to run a nuclear war simulation, nearly starts World War III. Although entertaining, the plot was extremely far-fetched at the time — but that was before the Internet.

Today, with almost every computing system connected to the World Wide Web, keeping American defense net- works safe from intrusion has become a vital part of the military’s mission. In addition to the battlefi elds of land, sea, air, and space, the military now must stand ready to fi ght in a fi fth domain: cyberspace. The Navy was fi rst out of the gate in establishing a computer security wing in 2006, but it never became fully operational. In the face of increasing cyberattacks by China, however, it became obvious a unique type of agency would be required to combat the sophisticated and evolving threats to the military network infra-

64 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2015

structure. In 2009, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates directed the commander of U.S. Strategic Com- mand to establish U.S. Cyber Com- mand (CYBERCOM). Its mission: to defend DoD’s Information Network (DoDIN), provide support to com- batant commanders for execution of their missions around the world, and strengthen our nation’s ability to with- stand and respond to cyberattack. Gates, in a memo to DoD’s top

brass, said of the increasing threat, “To address this risk eff ectively and to secure freedom of action in cyber- space, the Department of Defense requires a command that possesses

the required technical capability and remains focused on the integration of cyberspace operations. Further, this command must be capable of syn- chronizing warfi ghting eff ects across the global security environment, as well as providing support to civil au- thorities and international partners.” For the new agency’s fi rst director, Gates recommended then-Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, USA, who was also the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) at the time. CYBERCOM was stood up at

Fort Meade, Md., May 21, 2010, in a small ceremony attended by Gates and Army Gen. David Petraeus, then-

PHOTOS: THIS SPREAD, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP, WILLIAM BELCHER/USAF; DARPA; NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE