American ＂cyber warfare experts＂ collectively advocate cyber warfare and emphasize ＂preemptive strike＂

　　On October 9, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Lieutenant General Robert Elder (left), commander of cyber warfare of the US Air Force, and other senior officials of the US Air Force attended the press conference.

　　On the same day, at the press conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, senior officials of the Cyber War Command of the US Air Force explained the concept of cyber war to the press. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Yan photo

　　"Other powers with certain strength in cyber warfare pose a much greater threat to the United States than terrorists."

　　On October 9, Washington was sunny and sunny, but in a small conference room of the National Press Club near the White House, it was murderous and chilly.

　　The panel discussion on "Cyberwarfare Must Win" sponsored by the American Air Force Association focused on the main figures advocating cyberwarfare in the United States today: Lieutenant General Elder, commander of the Eighth Air Force in charge of cyberwarfare affairs, former Air Force staff officer Jiang Pu, former Air Mobile Command Deputy Commander Baker, and Ms. Grant, a cyberwarfare theorist and senior researcher at the Air Force think tank Ek Institute.

　　This is a brochure of the US Air Force Cyber Warfare Command, which was shot on the spot. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Yan photo

　　Cyber warfare command will be operational in one year.

　　"Computer network is the fifth combat field after land, sea, air and space. We must master the dominance of cyber warfare and win it. This is a top priority for the United States to maintain its superpower status. It is imperative to establish and improve the cyber warfare command as soon as possible. " Elder’s opening remarks were blunt.

　　On September 18th, the US Air Force set up a temporary cyber warfare command at barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, to prepare for the full-scale formal operation of the cyber warfare command in October 2009. The future Cyber Warfare Command will eventually be on an equal footing with Air Force Combat Command and Air Force Space Command, and will be led by a four-star general, reporting directly to Air Force Chief of Staff michael mosley and Air Force Minister Michael Wen. Elder revealed that at present, there are about 40,000 people in the US military engaged in work related to cyber warfare, and the Cyber Warfare Command will lead this huge "cyber army".

　　According to Grant, there are three main modes of cyber warfare in the United States. One is physical attack. Refers to the airdrop of "smart bombs" or charcoal weapons to cut off the power supply of enemy computer networks or partially paralyze them, resulting in the temporary or permanent closure of the other network. The second is virtual attack, which is commonly called "hacker attack". By launching a virus attack on the enemy network, it interferes with and destroys the enemy network operating system, causing it to malfunction or crash. Third, cognitive attack, that is, as the saying goes, "deception tactics", creates some virtual signals and images through the network to deceive and mislead the other party’s network operation and make its command fail. She declared that the target of the US cyber attack is not the usual Internet, but the enemy’s internal security network.

　　China and Russia are the key prevention targets.

　　Former US Air Force Chief of Staff Jiang Pu and former Air Mobile Command Deputy Commander Baker told the participants that the US "cyber army" is not an armchair strategist, but has rich practical experience. In addition to the US air strikes against Yugoslavia in 1999 and the Afghanistan war in 2001, the Iraq war became a real testing ground for the "cyber army". It is said that cyber warfare played a more important role in the Iraq war than originally expected.

　　Elder also put forward the concept of "equal competitors" at the seminar, which refers to other big countries with certain strength in cyber warfare.

　　He believes that these competitors pose a much greater threat to the American network than terrorists. When someone in the audience asked him what he meant after all, he deliberately avoided the important. "Any country that you can think of has the potential to threaten the United States is a competitor, and they are all spying on our network."

　　Grant’s speech stated the goal: the US military has divided the potential opponents of cyber warfare into three levels. The first level is ordinary hackers, who act alone and most of them have no political purpose. The second level is some entities that have certain strength but are not national rivals. The third level is some countries with cyber warfare resources and strength, including Russia, China, Britain and other European countries.

　　Advocate "attack first"

　　The seminar on October 9 is part of the recent public opinion campaign by the US military, especially the Air Force, to prepare for cyber warfare. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary celebration, the US Air Force held a grand global air force chiefs of staff meeting in Washington from September 24th to 26th, attended by military representatives from 84 countries and regions. Cyber warfare has become an important agenda of this conference.

　　According to American media statistics, at the opening ceremony of the conference, US Air Force Secretary Michael Wen and Air Force Chief of Staff Mosley mentioned the word "network" many times, no less than 10 times each.

　　Rani Kass, the special assistant to the chief of staff of the US Air Force and known as the "godmother of cyber warfare", gave a keynote speech on cyber warfare. She broke the secret of the United States to actively build a "cyber army": "Just like air combat, cyberspace, as a new combat field, is of course offensive priority. If you still take the defensive, it will be too late. If you can’t rule the network, you can’t rule other combat fields. " (Yang Qingchuan)

Editor: Cao Jin