On Feb. 9th, 2012, Peter Apps reported for Reuters on the US military's response to cyber-warfare. Specifically, the article explains how the US military (and militaries around the world) are relaxing entrance requirements in order to recruit more computer specialists. The US military trains these computer specialists to both defend US military networks and, according to insiders, "hack and destroy industrial and military systems such as traffic and electricity controls."
However, the article hinted at a few problems with the military's increased computer specialist recruitment. First, the private sector poaches a lot of the best talent. Second, the article quoted Ralph Langer (the cyber security expert who discovered Stuxnet) who said that the military might "have little clue of what cyber warfare is all about" and therefore "follow traditional approaches and try to train as many hacking skills as possible."
The US government could put offensive cyber-operations in the hands of its spy agencies (CIA, NSA, etc.). According to the Reuters article, the US government would only need a handful of highly trained hackers in order to pull off a Stuxnet-like attack. That same handful of hackers might not necessarily jive in the military environment, but they would fit well within a spy agency.
Then again, the article makes a poignant counter-argument: "offensive cyber warfare capability should be kept in the hands of the directly accountable military, not shadowy spy agencies."
You can find the Reuters source article here.
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