COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service) — The Air Force plans to revolutionize how it handles computer warfare by beefing up its force of cyberspace experts while contracting out easier jobs, like running the service's network.

Gen. John Hyten announced the groundbreaking shift at the Rocky Mountain Cyberspace Symposium on Tuesday at The Broadmoor, which drew more than 2,000 electronic security experts. Under Hyten's plan, each of the Air Force's wings will include a cyberspace squadron of computer experts by 2026.

The shift means the Air Force will change its focus to offense and defense in cyberspace from essentially being a giant corporate IT department, he explained.

"Our job is not necessarily to defend our network," Hyten said. "I can hire people to defend our network."

Airmen would move from monitoring email systems and making sure telephones work on base to examining future threats and integrating computer battles into Air Force plans for future warfare.

"We have to figure out how to operate in that domain and we have to protect our missions in our domain," said Hyten, who heads Air Force Base Command in Colorado Springs, which includes the service's computer troops.

The push to come up with more computer warfare units comes as the Air Force grasps the reality that everything it does, including flying modern planes, is tied to computers and is vulnerable to cyberattacks.

"Our entire air superiority structure, the F-22, the F-35 is dependent on cyber," Hyten said.

The symposium, put together by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, runs through Thursday. In panel discussions and in hotel rooms at The Broadmoor, electronic security efforts are dealing with the fastest-growing threat to America.

Computer warfare is an inexpensive way to attack the U.S. that requires just a laptop to get started. Hyten said government tests dating back to 2007, though, show that cyberattacks can cause physical damage, including a 2007 test by the Department of Homeland Security that mechanically wrecked an industrial generator with a few keystrokes.

The military's money for computer warfare, though, is mostly spent on running email servers and providing the Internet to airmen.

"Now 85 percent goes to network operations and 15 percent goes to offense and defense," Hyten said.

The Air Force move mimics computer outsourcing that has been going on in the business world for years, said Harry Raduege, the top cybersecurity expert for consulting giant Deloitte.

Raduege served as the Pentagon's top computer expert before retiring as a three-star general. He said the Air Force doesn't have enough people to worry about running its network and tackling online enemies at the same time.

"Today you can't get enough airmen trained in this," he said.

The change frees up airmen to use computers as weapons. Private companies may have the brainpower to launch attacks in cyberspace, but lack legal backing. Keeping offensive cyber operations in the military also allows leaders to closely control how they are used.

"Anything with offense is going to be retained by the military," said Raduege.

Hyten said the change also allows airmen to think like warriors rather than an IT department.

"The power of the United States Air Force is going to be when we just think about the effects we want to create and we don't care if that effect comes from air, space or cyber," he said.

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