National Guard Cyber Capability Grows Nationwide

By Cheryl Pellerin

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2015 – Just as the National Guard provides warfighting forces for the Army and Air Force and help during state and federal emergencies, Guardsmen now are ramping up their role in the nation’s escalating cybersecurity fight, according to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Army Gen. Frank J. Grass spoke with DoD News recently about growing cyber capability in the Guard and how the Guard works with federal, state and local partners in the annual Cyber Guard exercise.

Grass is the senior uniformed National Guard officer, responsible for 460,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel. He was appointed by the president and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Growth Plan

Describing the Guard’s plan for growth, Grass said he’s looking to soon establish a National Guard Cyber Protection Team -- a cyber capability in each of the 10 multistate Federal Emergency Management Agency regions.

“We’re going to get there,” he said. “That’s going to be easy.”

From there, and looking to the future, Grass said, the Guard will begin building capabilities in areas nationwide where related industries and universities can support growing Guard cyber capabilities and recruiting plans.

“We want to try to have a cyber capability in every state someday,” Grass said. “The Air National Guard is on a path -- I'd say within five years we will have 20 units, either converted [from existing specialties like combat communications or system administration] or new units standing up across the nation. The Army National Guard is on a path for 12 units, and some of those are standing up now."

The general said those numbers represent a start point for the National Guard, rather than an end point.

The Guard also has grown by participating every year since 2012 in an exercise called Cyber Guard, the general said. This year Cyber Guard was held June 8-26 in Suffolk, Virginia.

“I don't know if there's anything I've seen across the map that brings us together as well as the Cyber Guard exercise every year,” he added.

Attack Scenario

This year the Cyber Guard scenario included a simulated major Southern California earthquake and the emergency response, followed by a series of what seemed to be coordinated cyberattacks by a range of actors that disrupted electrical power along both coasts.

The scenario called for the attack to affect banks, oil and gas pipelines, and a major commercial port in the United Kingdom. Mock adversaries attacked DoD information networks across the department and the services, resulting in power outages, ATM failures and food shortages.

More than 100 organizations spanning government, academia, industry and the international coalition participated in the exercise.

U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI led the exercise. More than 1,000 participants -- including active-duty, National Guard and Reserve units and personnel from all five military services -- took part.

State, Local Collaboration

Grass said the exercise began in 2012 with eight states and 75 participants and has grown to the current size and participation, “so I think everyone sees that as a value -- to come together at one location each year.”

Guard participation helps attract local and state organizations and private companies, the general said, and gave an example from this year’s Cyber Guard.

During a tour of the exercise stations, Grass ran into an Army major from the Washington National Guard. The Guardsman was standing next to an exercise participant from a Washington power company, and the two discussed how they communicate regularly.

Grass added, “The power company representative said, ‘If something happens in our facility, this is the man I'm calling first,’” indicating the Guard major.

Every Discipline

They have a personal relationship, Grass said, “they know each other … so bringing them together at the national level and being able to hammer out how we're going to respond in a time of disaster here in the homeland and when we're under attack is so critical.”

The general said Guardsmen come from every discipline across business and industry, including the business of cyber and information technology, and that the kind of work performed by cyber warriors for the nation is a huge draw for recruitment.

What the Guard offers Cybercom is the ability to ramp up with more trained and ready people if the nation comes under attack, he added.

“We won't even have to mobilize,” Grass said, “[Guardsmen] will volunteer to be there. We have a couple of units that are aligned and train there every day. Their association is with Cybercom and their components … and [when we] send them back to their hometown units, the skill sets that they bring back with them are off the scale.”

Center Works to Optimize Warfighters’ Performance

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2011 – A new high-intensity workout regime promises to build strength and endurance. Ads tout dietary supplements as formula for getting stronger, smarter and even less-stressed-out. A “how to” book presents a sure-fire way to bounce back from physical or emotional setbacks.

With the wealth of ever-changing and often-conflicting information on the Internet and on the street, what are warfighters to believe about the best way to improve their performance, particularly in combat?

Getting to the bottom of that, and putting word out to the troops whose lives and missions depend on their ability to perform in demanding and often extreme conditions, is the mission of the Defense Department’s Human Performance Resource Center, Dr. Stephen Frost, the center’s director, told American Forces Press Service.

DOD stood up the center in September 2009 under the auspices of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to gather and develop solid science for warfighters, their leaders and their health care providers.

Part research arm, part information clearinghouse and education center, the center provides a single DOD focal point for human performance optimization, encouraging better coordination, collaboration and communication among the services and with other government agencies, Frost explained.

The staff seeks out scientifically proven data to post on its website and answers warfighters’ questions submitted through an online link. When it identifies an information gap, it reaches out to experts within the military and civilian professional communities to research the issue or evaluate research already conducted.

To date, the center has issued a White Paper on the pros and cons of a high-intensity physical training program popular with many military members. Its findings, in a nutshell: It may be great if you’re already fit, but could be too physically demanding if you’re not.

The staff also evaluated the prudence of taking specific dietary supplements in extreme temperatures or altitudes after some deployed service members experienced liver and kidney problems, Frost said. The results, posted on the center’s website, showed that high-protein supplements such as creatine can be extremely dangerous, especially when users aren’t properly hydrated, he reported.

“One of our missions is to provide the warfighter information that is evidence-based [and] scientific so that they can make decisions about things like dietary supplements in a better way than just ‘Googling’ on the Internet and getting commercialized information,” Frost said.

The center plans to look into possible ways to mitigate problems associated with the sickle cell trait. Another project on the center’s radar screen, to be conducted with NASA and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, will look into the issue of sleep, particularly sleep deprivation.

“That’s a big problem through the services,” Frost said. “We know that missions sometimes require warfighters to remain vigilant for long periods of time. So the big question is: How much sleep do you really need? And are there ways of enhancing your ability if you don’t have enough sleep? Are there ways of catching up on your sleep? There are a lot of questions around sleep that apply around the services, and NASA is interested, too.”

“Optimal performance” involves much more than strength, endurance and overall physical fitness, Frost explained. It includes all the mental, emotional and physical factors that impact a warfighters’ ability to perform effectively in demanding conditions and extreme environments, to stay healthy and injury-free and recover from any injuries and illnesses.

This involves everything from what goes into their mouths to what kind of exercise routine they follow to behavioral issues such as drug, alcohol and tobacco use.

But equally important are what Frost calls “mind tactics” -- a warfighter’s mental toughness and resilience.

“In the past, the emphasis has always been on the physical part, and we have become pretty good at managing the physical resilience and physical capabilities of our warfighters” he said. “But only recently have we come to recognize that the mind and body go together. So unless you have that same optimal capability for your mental performance, then your physical performance can’t be optimal, either.”

For this reason, the Human Performance Resource Center addresses family and social issues that can impact performance.

“We recognize that if a warfighter is worried about his family, he is not going to be in his optimal condition,” Frost said. “If he doesn’t have the social support systems he needs when he comes home from deployments, or if he is going to be deployed, he is not going to be in his optimal mental condition.”

Ultimately, Frost hopes the military community will come to recognize the Human Performance Resource Center as the place to go for unvarnished, scientifically proven information about factors that affect warfighter performance.

“If we can get the Human Performance Resource Center to truly become the go-to place for our warfighters, our health care providers, the line leadership and researchers so they aren’t simply Googling for information, I think we can go a long way toward enhancing the coordination, communication and collaboration among the services and DOD around human performance,” Frost said. “I think that will be a wonderful goal.”

U.S. Strategic Command Refines, Fields New Capabilities

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

March 9, 2007 – To adapt to the shifting national security environment, United States Strategic Command is refining and fielding new capabilities, the organization's commander said yesterday. Army Gen. James E. Cartwright outlined the transformation from Cold War-era structures to "new functionally aligned organizations designed to improve our operational speed and progress" in a prepared statement he submitted to the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

"We've moved from the old triad construct of the bombers, the submarines and the (intercontinental ballistic missiles) to one that is more integrated and offers the country a broader range of activities that can deter and assure our allies," Cartwright said.

According to Cartwright's statement, the functional components for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; network warfare; global network operations; information operations; integrated missile defense; and combating weapons of mass destruction are at or nearing full operational capability.

In addition, STRATCOM is constructing an organizational system "that can be joint from the start, can move to combined or allied type of configuration ... so that we don't have to build those in a time of crisis," Cartwright said.

"Having a balanced ... defense infrastructure underpinned by command and control and the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is critical to the strategy," he said.

Subcommittee members asked Cartwright how the newly organized STRACOM will address issues like the reliable replacement warhead program to modernize U.S. nuclear capabilities. They also asked about China's recent anti-satellite testing and the U.S. missile defense system, which some critics say has not yet sufficiently integrated the warfighters who operate it.

"One of the key issues before us today involving the nuclear arsenal is the reliable replacement warhead program," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the subcommittee's chair. "We must ask, first and foremost, do we really need such a significant modernization of our existing nuclear capabilities?"

Cartwright responded, "RRW is a form-fit function replacement, in that we're not changing any of the delivery vehicles. ... It puts us on the right path towards drawing this stockpile down to the minimum number necessary for national security.

"It has the same operational characteristics," he said, "but it is safer for the people who have to handle it. It's secure, so that one of these weapons does not end up in the wrong place, used in the wrong way. And it is reliable, which draws down the number of platforms I need and the number of weapons we have to deliver."

The general then addressed members' concerns about China's January anti-satellite test, which destroyed a Chinese satellite orbiting in the upper area of the low earth orbit belt, an estimated altitude of 530 miles.

Cartwright said debris from the destroyed satellite could interfere with commercial and government satellites and other space equipment orbiting in the same region.

"We're going to have to move to avoid this debris when it occurs; that is an impact on us," he said. "We're reactive in this; we're going to have to change our posture to (predict) where this debris is going to be."

Cartwright said such experiments are not unprecedented, referring to similar tests the U.S. and Soviet Union conducted during the Cold War, in which meddlesome debris took more than 20 years to disintegrate.

On the defensive side of the new triad, Cartwright said, the missile defense system has had success over the past year in forging the relationship between Strategic Command and the Missile Defense Agency.

"The test programs have moved to a much more successful footing," he said. "Technically, because Missile Defense Agency has done a great job, (and) operationally, because we have integrated the warfighter into the test program."

Cartwright said the system and its operators' readiness and capability were tested July 4, when North Korea launched several missiles.

"We stayed in an operational configuration for an extended period of time," he said. "The system worked well; we learned a lot. The system can be moved to an operational configuration any time."

This article was sponsored by police and military personnel who have authored books as well as online criminal justice leadership.