Testimony of Admiral Michael S. Rogers and Implications for India
#1901 713 April 29, 2018 By P K Mallick
Admiral Michael S. Rogers is the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command
(USCYBERCOM) and Chief of the Central Security Service (CSS) since April 3, 2014. He is going to be replaced by US Army’s Army
Cyber Command Chief Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone. On 27 February 2018 Admiral Michael Rogers testified before the Senate
Committee on Armed Services. In his prepared speech the Admiral explained the various progress made by the USCYBERCOM.
This was his last testimony to the Senate.
In the USA the top officials of the Government are madae to undergo hearings before taking over, during the tenure and while
handing over the responsibilities. They are grilled by the Senators and often asked very searching and sometime uncomfortable
questions. The top official has to answer on his own without any support from his staff.
These hearings/testimonies give out lot of details about the US Government’s policies and plan for future actions. This particular
testimony has lot of relevance for us as at throws up number of questions which we should also consider.
Some of the highlights of his testimony are given in succeeding paragraphs.
The Cyberspace Environment. USCYBERCOM is providing support to the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), U.S.
Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other places in Africa and Asia.
Threat From Violent Extremist Elements.USCYBERCOM along with law enforcement agencies, intelligence and liaison
partners tries to find and destroy the key nodes in ISIS and other violent extremist groups’ online infrastructure and media
operations.
Integrate Cyberspace Operations With Traditional Military Capabilities. China and Russia integrate cyberspace
operations with the plans and capabilities of their traditional military capabilities. These two nations also count as peer or near-
peer competitors in cyberspace.
Iran and North Korea. Iran and North Korea have growing capabilities in cyberspace. Though they have fewer technical tools,
they employ aggressive methods to carry out malicious cyberspace activities.
Three Milestones. USCYBERCOM has achieved the following milestones :
Elevated to unified combatant command status.
The Cyber Mission Force(CMF), specifically of the 133 CMF teams, all of them will be attaining full operational capability by September.
USCYBERCOM will open its new Integrated Cyber Center and Joint Operations Center (ICC/JOC) at Fort Meade very soon.
US Cyber Command’s Missions and Performance. The following was highlighted:
Ensured that no harm was done by the WannaCry and NotPetya malwares outbreaks.
The Cyber Protection Teams were engaged with testing own systems.It necessitated the Department of Defense to review the cybersecurity of
critical defense capabilities like nuclear command and control, sensitive information systems and long-range strike assets.
Defended the United States against cyber threats to U.S. interests and infrastructure. Cyber capabilities can also disrupt and potentially deter non-
cyber threats as well.
Cyber capabilities integrated with plans and operations across all domains to influence and shape adversary behaviour, during preparation as well
as joint operations in a conflict.
The Joint Task Force has given important supporting fires to USCENTCOM and USSOCOM in the campaign. The right processes were built to
integrate cyberspace operations as one piece of a complex and coordinated multi-domain military campaign.
Cyber Operations - Integrated Planning Elements (CO-IPEs) at each Combatant Command are being established at full operational capability
within the next five years to plan, synchronize, integrate and de-conflict cyberspace operations with Combatant Command plans and operations.
