Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

[efoods]The military command would complement a civilian effort announced on Friday by President Obama, who said the United States must have a comprehensive new way to safeguard its computers in the 21st century.

Mr. Obama announced the creation of a White House office — reporting to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council — that will coordinate a multibillion-dollar effort to restrict access to government computers and protect systems that run the stock exchanges, clear global banking transactions, manage the air traffic control system and perform myriad other tasks that make modern life possible.

The president said those who describe the computer-driven era as “a virtual world” are not quite right. “Make no mistake: this world — cyberspace — is a world that we depend on every single day,” he said. “It’s our hardware and our software, our desktops and laptops and cell phones and BlackBerrys, that have become woven into every aspect of our lives.”

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This article was posted: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 11:48 am

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