How one must face militarily the now constant danger deriving from the fifth dimension known by the name of cyberspace?
There are those who have posed the problem for some time and is working to solve it by resorting to a mixed approach, there are those who have not yet understood that the problem can not be postponed but must be addressed, this is because the time to devote studying the problem is gone!
In the 2014 a news passed practically in silence, published in the "militarytimes" signed by Andrew Tilghman, announced that in the United States was held a Cyber exercise from which it emerged that the "cyberwarriors" military service had been defeated by the "cyberwarrior" reservists, because in the field many civilians have been employed full-time in their work for years now.
The question was immediately brought to the attention of the strategists to understand what role reservists should play within the cyber force of the Pentagon.
The answer was given in 2015 with the publication of the document The DoD Cyber Strategy of the April 2015 where in the definition of the "Strategic Goal I" it is clearly stated that: "The Reserve Component offers a unique capability for supporting each of DoD's missions, including for the defense industrial base and the commercial sector. It represents DoD's critical surge capacity for cyber responders".
What happened in the United States finds a logical explanation in the strong bonds that have always existed between the industrial and military environment that can be found in many research and development programs carried out first and foremost by DARPA.
Recourse to the civil world (of which the reserve is part) to bring men and skills that are not easy to train and keep up-to-date within the military environment is certainly important in an environment like the Cyber one where the evolution of the threat requires a continuous update.
So the lesson seems to have been learned by the Americans, but what about the others?
A second example of the use of the reserve in the cyber environment comes from Thailand.
The 18 last May on the Bangkok Times appeared an article signed by Wassana Nanuam entitled "Military eyes taking on civilian cyber warriors" which states that the Ministry of Defense is working on a program for the recruitment of civilian reservists inside of the teams of cybersecurity.
The advantages of recruiting industry experts from the reserve are different:
- enrollment of already prepared personnel, without having to wait years and without having to set up the organizational structure to support training;
- always new staff available (as long as the recruitment is done with the criterion of keeping the reservists in service for a limited number of years).
Among the contraindications must be taken into account that the most prepared reservists come from the industrial environment, which is the same that provides the Armed Forces technologies, with obvious consequences, also we must think that the most prepared staff will never accept to work at the level of current salaries when out can earn a lot more.
Of course there are many other pros and cons and each state is moving in different directions but in any case the discussion is open.
What is the situation in Italy in the sector? Do you intend to use reserve personnel? What is the preparation of the personnel and facilities assigned to the cyber sector?
Some answers could come from the analysis of the results of the exercises (such as from Locked Shield) and the open and frank discussion that should ensue, but there seems to be very little information available to the general public. One might - or perhaps "should" - ask why there is such a lack of discussion. In fact, I believe that the best way to improve ... is based on an open and frank discussion of the objectives to be achieved and the intermediate results achieved.
To learn more:
- https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2014/08/04/in-supersecr...
- https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1467494
- https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/04/25/defense-panels-want-the-penta...
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyberwar/special-report-the-penta...
(photo: Georgia Army National Guard)
