As of now, the Cyber Command is operating in Mosul to attack ISIL communication infrastructure and command capabilities. The idea here is to give the military's cyber warriors the resources needed to take some of ISIS' preferred tools -- online communications -- away from the radical group.

Defense secretary Ash Carter says that he's been working toward bringing Cyber Command into different types of campaigns aside from counter-terrorism like space. "A couple of years ago, that would never have occurred to a secretary of defense," he says.