http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~crypt/other/609.htm
>From Crypt Newsletter 50, August 1998, distributed to the mailing list:
Strapped, or so it claims, for savvy information warriors, the Pentagon is
considering employing reserves as a pool of cyberdefense warriors. The
plan calls for approximately 300 reservists with Ph.D's. to be employed as
virtual info-warriors working from the redoubts of their homes on PCs.
Upon learning of it, an alert Crypt Newsletter reader quipped: "I'm still
trying to get my mind around the reaction of other reservists when they
learn that their new Brainiac, Ph.D.-certified, info-warrior colleagues
get to work at home!"
And if they're real Brainiacs, they'll sell themselves to the private
sector computer security industry which, in turn, will sell their services
back to the Department of Defense for much more than what they were
earning as military men. [And we won't even mention the little problem of
where DoD expects to produce 300 Ph.D. reservists who specialize in comsec
from overnite.]
Ironically, many ex-soldiers with comsec experience are already doing
this, landing in paradoxical situations in which they find themselves
directing commanding officers, the same officers who had ignored them or
brushed aside recommendations and suggestions when they were subordinates.
In this world, it should come as no surprise to find instances where the
military literally eats its young.
Take the example of the Air Force's 609th Information Warfare Squadron at
Shaw AFB, SC.
The 609th, a group that pioneered base perimeter computer security for the
Air Force, finds itself set to be closed down in approximately a year.
Outwardly a victim of budget cuts, sources say it was a victim of
publicity wars and professional rivalries within the USAF.
Just prior to the 609th's creation in 1995, then Air Force Chief of Staff
Ronald Fogelman realized the Air Force Information Warfare Center was
beholden to the Air Intelligence Agency in San Antonio, Texas. The Air
Intelligence Agency did whatever it wanted because it didn't have to
report to anyone.
"Air Combat Command knew this and decided it had to do its own thing,"
said one of the info-warriors interviewed for this article. "General
Fogelman wanted to see a fresh approach to information superiority. The
Air Force Computer Emergency Response Team wasn't doing good enough with
its hacker intrusion software."
Fogelman ordered the Air Combat Command, not the Air Intelligence Command,
to come up with something useful. Their idea was to come up with a
deployable formation, throw tons of money at it and cultivate cyber-crews
in its new information warfare squadron.
With no preconceptions and rules, members of the newly formed 609th fanned
out into the worlds of military and corporate computer security, looking
for anything that could serve as base perimeter defenses.
Enter a group of computer scientists who comprised former staff members of
the Air Force's Information Warfare Center and who had led the
investigation of the Brit hacker break-ins at Rome Labs/Air Force Material
Command in 1994.
"These guys had opted out of the Air Force because leadership at AFIWC
wasn't listening," said one information warrior close to the action in San
Antonio, Texas. "There was a need for a network sniffer and Asim, AFIWC's
choice, didn't cut it. The Air Force's computer scientists, however, had
developed one that did, called NetRanger . . . so they jumped and formed
WheelGroup."
To members of the 609th, however, NetRanger seemed ideal. WheelGroup
provided a neat solution: a box and software ready to go. The squadron
installed NetRanger at Shaw AFB. "AFIWC was pissed at WheelGroup and the
609th. There was lots of bad blood."
However, the 609th knew nothing about politicking and public relations.
"AFIWC did," said one source who sympathizes with the plight of the 609th.
"They [AFIWC] always have people lobbying for their causes at the
Pentagon."
[WheelGroup was recently purchased by Cisco Systems. The NetRanger product
and its successors will undoubtedly be used by many military
installations.]
-o-
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Received on Mon Sep 14 08:49:29 1998