Just like the Navy must protect sea lanes for waterborne commerce, a military cyber organization must protect commerce that travels through Cyber Space, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, head of 8th Air Force. Elder, who oversaw the efforts to start up the recently activated Cyber Command, noted that 80 percent of world commerce today is conducted in cyberspace. He emphasized that “cyber is a domain,” a place with terrain, obstacles, and innocent bystanders as well as enemies. The Air Force has to dominate cyber space, he said, because “if we lose cyber, we can’t do air and space.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
