The belief that Air Force networks can be protected by preventing the enemy from penetrating them is an idea no longer viable, the service’s chief information officer said Thursday. “The ‘Maginot Line’ defense of protecting the network, quite frankly, is a ship that has sailed,” said Lt. Gen. William Lord, during an Air Force Association-sponsored Air Force Breakfast Series presentation in Arlington, Va. Instead, Lord said, “We now need to talk about operating a network in which the enemy is already [present].” That requires a defense in depth, with the ability to fight through attacks and keep the networks up and running so that they can continue to support the joint force, he said. Already today the Air Force’s networks experience, on a daily basis, between a hundred thousand and—”on bad days”—a million attempted penetrations, he said.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…