“On the cyber team, the location is yet to be determined, but a portion or all of the teams will be in Missouri,” the communications director for Sen. Roy Blunt, Brian Hart, said.
The announcement comes at a time when the Islamic State is showing a sophisticated approach to using social media and with Congress and President Obama ready to pass a cybersecurity bill.
THE ISLAMIC STATE
Blunt, an Intelligence Committee member, this week said in a press call that he agreed with the premise that the Islamic State had revolutionized terror via access to modern message delivery systems.“(IS has) significant ability to use the social media: the magazine they put out; the list they provide of how you can communicate with each other more securely, so that even people who are trying their best, and have been ordered by a court to find out what you’re saying, aren’t able to; the ability to recruit from far away because of the use of that social media are all important,” Blunt said.
Considering the threats to this country, cyberspace used by the United States needs protection, he said.
“Cybersecurity, the critical infrastructure of the country, how crippling that could be if we don’t protect the financial network, the power grid, all of those things properly,” Blunt said. “The cybersecurity bill that I co-sponsored … is included in the (spending) bill that we’ll be voting on.”
The $1.1 trillion federal bill stood poised for Senate approval Friday.
“The cyberbill should have passed long before (this year),” Blunt said.
Obama supports improved cybersecurity, issuing a proposal in 2011 and continuing to support efforts to lock threats out of the system.
“In this interconnected, digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyber assaults both in the private sector and the public sector. Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to harden sites and prevent those kinds of attacks from taking place...But even as we get better, the hackers are going to get better, too. Some of them are going to be state actors; some of them are going to be non-state actors. All of them are going to be sophisticated and many of them can do some damage,” Obama said a year ago today. “This is part of the reason why it’s going to be so important for Congress to work with us and get an actual bill passed that allows for the kind of information-sharing we need. Because if we don’t put in place the kind of architecture that can prevent these attacks from taking place, this is not just going to be affecting movies, this is going to be affecting our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant.”
STEPPING UP
The Army Times reported the seven new cyberprotection teams will work with units spread across 23 states.“Our goal for cyberdefense is to train, equip and provide highly skilled forces responsive to the needs of the nation,” Army Gen. Frank Grass, chief of the National Guard Bureau, stated. “Working with the Army and Air Force, our cybersquadrons and teams will provide trained and ready soldiers and airmen to support requirements established by the services and U.S. Cyber Command.”
In addition, a cyberinformation surveillance reconnaissance squadron will be stood up with California, and a cyber-ISR group will be stood up in Massachusetts, the National Guard Bureau reported. The bureau report continues ...
These latest additions are part of the Guard’s efforts to lay the foundation for future cyberforces.
“This is the beginning,” Air Force Col. Kelly Hughes, chief of the Space and Cyber Warfare Operations Division at the Air National Guard Readiness Center, said in a statement. “This is a massive amount of force structure the Guard has laid into this mission, but this is just the first layer.”
The Guard will position cyber protection units in each of the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency response regions.
“The focus is to get that presence in as many states as possible and especially making sure we have all the FEMA regions covered,” Hughes said.
©2015 The Daily Star-Journal (Warrensburg, Mo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
