Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

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Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Senate wants more details on Cyber Command’s tools

Monday, July 6, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Cyber Security

Comments: 0

The Senate Armed Services Committee is concerned there isn’t sufficient oversight over U.S. Cyber Command’s capability and platform development.

In the report accompanying the committee’s markup of the annual defense policy bill, it articulates issues with the command’s Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture, or JCWA, which guides capability development priorities.

The architecture is broken into five categories:

Common firing platforms to be used at the four cyber operating locations of the service cyber components. These platforms will be worked into a comprehensive suite of cyber tools.Unified Platform, which will integrate and analyze data from offensive and defensive operations with partners.Joint command-and-control mechanisms for situational awareness and battle management at the strategic, operational and tactical levels.Sensors that support defense of the network and drive operational decisions.The Persistent Cyber Training Environment, which will provide individual and collective training as well as a way to rehearse for a mission.

“The committee is concerned that there is not adequate oversight and coordination of the JCWA component program offices and believes that deliberate oversight must be exercised to ensure that acquisition priorities and objectives are aligned to Cyber Command mission needs,” the language stated. “Furthermore, the lack of overall systems engineering and systems integration authorities and competencies for the JCWA as a whole are inconsistent with sound systems acquisition practice.”

In part, the committee’s concern stems from the fact that the military branches individually serve as executive agents to a number of these programs and initiatives. For example, the Army is running the Persistent Cyber Training Environment, and the Air Force is running Unified Platform as well as Joint Cyber Command and Control.

As a result, the panel is directing the principal cyber advisor to develop a governance plan for coordination and oversight of the architecture by Dec. 1, 2020. The advisor is to work in cooperation with the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, the chief information officer, the head of Cyber Command, and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The committee wants the governance plan to include a structure and process to enable the proper integration of the JCWA components as a functional system of systems that can adapt to cyber mission needs.

It also wants the plan to have a mechanism that ensures the JCWA component program offices are responsive to the needs of the joint cyber force represented by Cyber Command.

In addition, the committee has also zeroed in on how Cyber Command conducts its cyber operations.

Photo: The Senate has issues with the way Cyber Command is developing and procuring its capabilities and platforms. (U.S. Cyber Command)

Link: https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/06/30/senate-wants-more-details-on-cyber-commands-tools/

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