The US military needs a seventh branch: The Cyber Force
BY MICHAEL CURLEY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 09/02/21 5:31 PM ET
A U.S. Army unit in Syria comes under heavy fire from the forces of the Islamic State. As the company commander and his men hunker down, he reaches for his radio to call for back-up. When he touches the button, nothing happens. His radio has been hacked.
At a local electric utility in Ohio, the controller gets a routine notice that power from other companies’ generators will be cut back in 10 minutes. No problem. This happens every day at this time. Power companies share responsibility for generating electricity for the grid. So, according to company policy, the controller activates the generators within his own system. As he pushes the control switches, nothing happens. The utility has been hacked. Minutes later a blackout occurs. The community is in total darkness. No heat. No lights. No internet. Uncle Joe’s dialysis machine shuts off. Aunt Jane’s respirator stops.
Despite the above anecdotes, cyberattacks aren’t fiction. In July, the United States, the European Union and NATO issued joint statements condemning the Chinese government for a series of malicious cyber activities.
https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/570634-the-us-military-needs-a-seventh-branch-the-cyber-force/
