Already Operational
Wasn't their first task to take out the Iranian nuclear control systems?!
The US military's central Cyber Command will not become operational as had been planned tomorrow, according to Pentagon spokesmen. Issues responsible for the delay include difficulties finding suitably qualified staff among America's uniformed legions, and also the fact that it isn't even clear what "operational" means for a …
"military culture doesn't value technical skills"
This isn't quite true.
The US Army has long had separate "specialist" grades that parallel the so-called "hard" grades. So, a 'Spec-6' has the same pay and benefits as a Staff Sergeant. However, the Staff Sergeant would presumably always take the leadership role in matters of military command.
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The (illegal) hackers don't take a huge army of manpower to achieve their goals, in fact many telecommute to work.
Not only that, there are several likely candidates for employment languishing in U.S. jails and I am sure financially attractive employment packages could be designed whereby they could be induced to wear military uniforms in lieu of their present orange overalls.
Meanwhile, the Pentagons efforts are essentially another waste of money of whixh the U.S. has little to spare.
A super efficient and secretive/need to know USCYBERCOM leadership ..... has that leadership in Full Spectrum Control of Federal Reserve Assets and the State Department's mercenary armies and Media and IT ....... which is then Virtually, a Disciplined and AIdDedicated ParaMilitarised Unilateral Government which takes Power away from the Slugs and Bugs that infest the Wall Street Flower and Money Root System.
And that one simple fact is one very good reason why they battle hard to exist in any physicalised form. Control CyberSpace Command Powers Everything.
And surely you cannot reasonably expect that Powerful Control to be unattractive to irregular and unconventional underground sources/special forces and renegade rogue non state actors with a liking for all the good things in Life and Live Operational Virtual Environments.
Be careful out there, and be aware ...... there are Great White Hatted Sharks in the Mad Dark Matters Jungle and they know exactly what they are doing and what needs to be done for Future Control ...... and every nation can lease a shark and set them loose to clean up the pool and their areas of especial interest of its dead fish and dying phishes.
It doesn't take much to see where a Cyber Command could be useful, essentially a version of the Signals Corps for computer networking. And the NSA will be involved with that just as they are involved with any other sort of communications.
But the offensive options: they're not so clear. Though the WW2 examples are quite suggestive. Not just trying to jam enemy radar stations, but such things as Soldatensender Calais (if Sefton Delmer's account can be relied on...). Fake websites for the terrorists? Only thing is, that's not been a military operation in the past: is the military model even the right way to handle offensive cyber warfare?