{"id":48678,"date":"2020-08-13T23:08:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T23:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/13\/the-new-strategy-from-navys-cyber-command\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:31:03","slug":"the-new-strategy-from-navys-cyber-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/cyber\/2020\/08\/13\/the-new-strategy-from-navys-cyber-command\/","title":{"rendered":"The new strategy from Navy\u2019s cyber command"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Navy\u2019s primary cyber outfit released its strategic plan for the next five years, a document that calls for using the service\u2019s networks as a warfighting platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document, released by 10th Fleet\/Fleet Cyber Command in late July<\/a>, covers the range of responsibility of the command, which is the only fleet with a global footprint in all the military domains, to include cyberspace operations, signals intelligence and recently, the Navy\u2019s component to U.S. Space Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much has changed since the last strategic plan was published in 2015, namely, the rampant activity of adversaries on a daily basis below the threshold of armed conflict to strategically harm the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe long term competition we face today is between democracies and authoritarian regimes, freedom of navigation, and access to shared world markets. Our long-term strategic competitors are executing strategic cyber activities to alter the international order. This will not let up,\u201d the document read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that adversaries learned the military\u2019s game but now the military must learn the adversary\u2019s game and play it on their terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorically, to undermine a state\u2019s power required territorially-focused, overt armed attacks or physical invasion. While that is and will always remain a possibility, technology has provided our adversaries with the ability to achieve their objectives without traditional military force,\u201d the document read. \u201cCurrently, our adversaries are engaging us in cyberspace and the costs are cumulative \u2013 each intrusion, hack or leak may not be strategically consequential on its own, but the compounding effects are tantamount to what would have been considered an act of war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy, and military by extension, must be prepared to contest this activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am certain the opening rounds of a 21st century great power conflict, particularly one impacting the maritime domain, will be launched in the electromagnetic, space, or cyber domains. If the Navy is to fight and win, Navy networks must be able to survive those hits and \u2018fight hurt,\u2019\u201d Vice Adm. Timothy White, who rarely speaks publicly, said in the forward to the strategy. \u201cOur people must be trained and exercised to fight through those hits. This contest spans the continuum of competition and conflict. We must win this contest during the day-to-day competition of \u2018peacetime operations,\u2019 where our networks are already in close contact, under constant probing and attack. If we do not, we will be at a severe disadvantage during crisis and lethal combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan, which continues to nest within the Navy\u2019s overarching vision of Distributed Maritime Operations, features a three pronged vision; acting first in full spectrum information warfare, fighting and winning in a fully contested battlespace and promoting modernization and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the plan tweaks the five goals outlined in the previous strategic plan 2015-2020. They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n