The U.S. Air Force aims to eventually set up a cyber unit in every state of the country, a senior officer said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, who oversees the Air Force's cyber efforts, told lawmakers on the Capitol Hill that the service is also coordinating cyber efforts with the Homeland Security Department, the intelligence community and its sister services.
"The Air Force is not trying to do this alone," Elder said. " This is the ultimate team sport, doing cyber ops," he said.
In addition to building up virtual defenses with new protections for applications and databases, Elder said the plan to get the new Cyber Command up and running by October 2009 includes protecting and streamlining the physical assets that keep the network operating.
The Air Force wants the battle in the digital domain to be taken just as seriously as threats in the material world, he said.
"We want to make sure we can advocate for cyber the same ways we advocate for air and space," he said.
The Air Force announced plans to stand up a cyber-organization last November, granting it major command status.
Details emerged that the service planned to initially appoint a two-star commander, then name a four-star leader after the command was more firmly established.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne named Maj. Gen. William Lord as the command leader last week.
At present, Lord is the director for cyberspace transformation in the service's Warfighting Integration directorate.
Source: Xinhua
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