The US military is moving ahead with plans to create its first “cyber command” designed to bolster the US’ potential to wage digital warfare as well as defend against mounting cyber threats, officials said on Friday.
After US President Barack Obama announced on Friday his plans to overhaul cyber security policy, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was expected to soon formally propose the new cyber command that will be overseen by a four-star officer, Pentagon officials said.
The move reflected a shift in military strategy with “cyber dominance” becoming part of US war doctrine and growing alarm over the perceived threat posed by digital espionage coming from China, Russia and elsewhere.
US officials said China has built up a sophisticated cyber warfare program and that a spate of intrusions in the US and elsewhere can be traced back to Chinese sources.
Defense officials said the cyber command would focus on security efforts for US networks along with offensive capabilities to ensure “freedom of action in cyberspace” to protect US interests.
The precise details of US cyber military power remain secret, but it includes technology capable of penetrating and jamming networks, including the classified Suter airborne system, analysts say.
The technology has been reportedly added to unmanned aircraft and allows for users to take over enemy sensors to “see what enemy sensors see, and even take over as systems administrator so sensors can be manipulated into positions so that approaching aircraft can’t be seen,” Aviation Week said.
Speculation has persisted that Israel may have used the technology in a 2007 air raid against a Syrian construction site.
The new US military cyber center would be placed initially under US Strategic Command, which is already leading the military’s cyber security efforts and be located at Fort Meade, Maryland.
The officer widely expected to lead the command is Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS