DoD cyber strategy aims for ‘something big, something muscular’ in offensive ops

U.S. Cyber Command members work in the Joint Operations Center at Fort Meade, Md., April. 2, 2021.

WASHINGTON — The forthcoming Pentagon cyber strategy will focus on delivering “big outcomes” for the defense secretary and President Donald Trump in the way of offensive actions, according to a top cyber official.

“We often hear about offense versus defense … but defense in itself is not the outcome; it’s not the goal. It is to allow us to go on offense with something big, something muscular, and something that will drive the outcomes. Our strategy attempts to do that,” Brig. Gen. William Wilburn, deputy principal cyber advisor for the Department of Defense, said at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit Wednesday.

The strategy will be the first one since the Biden administration’s strategy was released in 2023. Officials have previously alluded to the contents of the upcoming strategy, saying it will set a course outlining the role AI will play for the cyber force. A draft of the cyber strategy, Politico reported, showed the desire for private companies to engage in hacking activities.

The Pentagon’s cyber strategy follows the national cyber strategy, which was released in March and sought a more proactive and offensive posture to cyberspace in line with sentiments from the Trump administration.

While cyber has been integrated with kinetic military activity for many years, officials have made a point of highlighting the role cyber has played in recent operations during the Trump administration. That includes Operation Midnight Hammer , Operation Absolute Resolve and Operation Epic Fury .

Wilburn noted the Pentagon wants to give senior leaders the tools they need in crisis or conflict.

“The takeaway is, it’s about driving big outcomes and giving the secretary and the president options, more options. We want to move away from things that look like persistent engagement. We want to go to higher impact options,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is drive those outcomes in a way that we haven’t seen done before.”

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“Persistent engagement” refers to an operating concept within CYBERCOM dating back to 2018 that called on Pentagon hackers to be more active in cyberspace, contesting the activity adversaries daily by “defending forward,” hindering their ability to launch cyberattacks on US targets.

Wilburn said daily engagement would still be necessary, but he suggested it would take a more aggressive stance. He did not provide details, but referred to the attitude as one of “confrontation.”

“The outcomes that we want to achieve [are] very clear. We want to ensure that the US is safe, the homeland is safe, that adversaries aren’t able to challenge us, and if so, we’re able to deliver the outcomes that again the department and the nation need,” he said.

The forthcoming strategy will also include an action plan to ensure those outcomes come to fruition instead of “sit[ting] on the shelf,” which tends to happen too often, Wilburn said.

2021年4月2日，美国网络司令部成员在马里兰州米德堡联合行动中心工作。

华盛顿——据一位高级网络官员透露，即将出台的五角大楼网络战略将侧重于在进攻性行动方面为国防部长和唐纳德·特朗普总统带来“重大成果”。

“我们经常听到进攻与防守的对比……但防守本身并非结果，也不是目标。防守是为了让我们能够采取更大规模、更有力、更能推动结果的进攻。我们的战略正是力求做到这一点，”国防部副首席网络顾问威廉·威尔伯恩准将周三在比灵顿网络安全峰会上表示。

这将是自拜登政府2023年发布网络安全战略以来的首份新战略。此前，官员们曾暗示即将出台的战略内容，称其将为人工智能在网络安全领域发挥的作用制定方向。据Politico报道，一份网络安全战略草案显示，政府希望私营公司参与黑客活动。

五角大楼的网络战略遵循国家网络战略，该战略于 3 月发布，旨在采取更加积极主动的网络空间战略，这与特朗普政府的理念相符。

虽然网络战与实战军事活动已融合多年，但官员们一直强调网络战在特朗普政府近期的军事行动中所发挥的作用。这些行动包括“午夜铁锤行动”、“绝对决心行动”和“史诗狂怒行动”。

威尔伯恩指出，五角大楼希望为高级领导人提供在危机或冲突中所需的工具。

“关键在于，我们要推动取得重大成果，并为部长和总统提供更多选择。我们希望摆脱那种看似持续不断的参与模式，转而采用更具影响力的方案，”他说道。“我们正在努力以一种前所未有的方式推动这些成果的实现。”

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“闪电突击”演习将士兵对 NGC2 的反馈转化为几天内（而不是几年内）的操作软件变更。

“持续参与”指的是网络司令部自 2018 年以来提出的一个运作理念，该理念要求五角大楼的黑客在网络空间更加活跃，通过“前沿防御”来对抗对手的日常活动，从而阻碍他们向美国目标发动网络攻击的能力。

威尔伯恩表示，日常沟通仍然必要，但他暗示将采取更强硬的立场。他没有提供细节，只是将这种态度称为“对抗”。

他说：“我们想要达成的目标非常明确。我们希望确保美国安全，国土安全，确保对手无法挑战我们，如果能够实现这些目标，我们就能再次交付国防部和国家所需要的成果。”

威尔伯恩表示，即将出台的战略还将包括一项行动计划，以确保这些成果得以实现，而不是“束之高阁”，这种情况往往发生得太频繁了。