Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 23

CYBERSPACE UNDERSTANDING

(Photo by David Vergun, U.S. Army)

Cyberwarriors defend the network at the tactical operations center for the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division,
on Fort Bliss, Texas, during Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) 16.1. The NIE was conducted from 25 September to 8 October 2015.

promise capabilities applicable to cyber SU. Though
the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC)
attempted to coordinate these disparate efforts, no significant economies have as yet been achieved.
The assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition,
Logistics and Technology (ASA[ALT]) recently developed a coordinated approach to deliver cyberspace-related technologies.23 However, it appears to be focused more
on cyberspace defense and offense, not on enabling capabilities like cyber SU.24 Although one of the ASA(ALT)
goals is to create an integrated network operations capability that will increase understanding about the health of
tactical networks, that capability appears to exclude other
information pertaining to factors outside of friendly networks that might interest tactical commanders.25 And, although in 2014 ASA(ALT) responded to ten operational
needs statements from Army Cyber Command addressing near-term requirements, the primary focus has been
on reducing network vulnerabilities and not cyber SU.26
This top-down strategy is a positive step, but it has not
MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2016

yet translated into a coordinated cyberspace capabilities
development effort at the bottom of the bureaucracy.

A Simple Approach for Army Cyber
SU Capability Developers
You can observe a lot just by watching.27

—Yogi Berra

The U.S. Army does not need a perfect cyber SU system ten years from now; rather, it needs a good enough
cyber SU system right now. To achieve this, capability
developers are advised to take a simple approach by
answering three basic questions:
What information do commanders need?
How do we obtain and consolidate it?
How should it be displayed?
In a broader sense, to successfully acquire cyber SU
(or any other future capability), the Army must think of
ways to innovate and incrementally reform a constraining acquisition process. First, Army capability developers

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