US Air Force fighters and bombers unloaded precision weapons against an insurgent stronghold south of Balad Ruz, Iraq, on Jan. 8. The strike force—F-15E, F-16, and B-1B aircraft—hit 25 targets, including buildings, equipment, weapons caches, and enemy personnel. Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of US Central Command Air Forces, said, “the combined use of our wide range of aerial assets is a perfect example of the flexibility of our coalition forces.”
Creating a new military service to wage war in the cyber domain would take too long, risk creating a top-heavy bureaucracy, and create confusion about the defense of other services’ IT networks, two former leaders of U.S. Cyber Command told a congressionally chartered research committee looking into the question.
