The biggest stumbling block in future conflicts will be cyber operations, retired Gen. Chuck Horner said Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Speaking at an AFA Mitchell Institute event about Desert Storm, during which he served as the air boss, Horner said the US did cyber operations in that conflict “very poorly,” because of a lack of interagency coordination. “I learned this: Don’t ever ask permission. Just do it, and apologize afterwards.” Horner said cyber will continue to be a challenge because it is “way too classified,” and there continues to be a divide between the intelligence community and the operations community. “We’ve got to start talking, … we’ve got to lower classifications, because believe me, everybody else is doing it,” Horner said. “I’m very, very, very worried about cyber operations.”
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
