{"id":12846,"date":"2019-04-24T19:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T19:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/24\/in-era-of-defend-forward-what-does-success-look-like\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:51:10","slug":"in-era-of-defend-forward-what-does-success-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/home\/2019\/04\/24\/in-era-of-defend-forward-what-does-success-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"In era of \u2018defend forward,\u2019 what does success look like?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U.S. Cyber Command\u2019s new operating philosophy of \u201cdefend forward\u201d has helped clarify how the Department of Defense can protect the United States from cyberattacks, a Pentagon official said April 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefend forward\u201d is often described as fighting the cyber battle on someone else\u2019s turf instead of fighting at home as a way to learn what adversaries might be planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe defend forward construct also helps us to articulate and clarify roles and responsibilities domestically in defense of the nation,\u201d Burke \u201cEd\u201d Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said April 23 during an event hosted by the Atlantic Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Defense has a role [in defending the nation]. We were having a little bit of trouble clarifying what that role is. The defend forward construct helps us do that. We bring the capacity, unique attributes of the Department of Defense in terms of information sharing and then incident response \u2026 to be able to support DHS \u2026 FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, DOD leaders have struggled to offer clear visions<\/a> for how the department can protect the homeland from cyber threats. This difficulty has been in large part due to legal restrictions on what DoD can do within domestic soil, compounded by the pervasiveness and ubiquity of cyber in government and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, top DoD officials sparred with top members of Congress in recent years following the Russian\u2019s interference in the 2016 presidential election and the role DoD should have played in defending the nation from information campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\t