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Secretary Stephen Moret on reported suspension of Cyber Command activities
08/14/08 - 10:19 AM
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BATON ROUGE, La.—A news report released earlier today suggested that the United States Air Force (USAF) has suspended efforts related to the establishment of Cyber Command. According to the report, new USAF leaders at the federal level are taking this action in order to have additional time to evaluate the scope and mission of the command.

This development is not entirely unexpected because there have been a variety of significant leadership changes in the USAF at the federal level. For example, Michael Wynne recently offered his resignation as Secretary of the USAF. William Anderson, previously the assistant secretary of the USAF for installations and the leader of the site-selection process for Cyber Command, also recently offered his resignation. These changes and others at the federal level most likely necessitated a temporary delay in the development of the Cyber Command program.

I spoke with General Bob Elder earlier today who assured me that current operations are expected to continue unchanged at the 8th Air Force, including cyber operations.

Louisiana remains committed to our planned investments in Barksdale Air Force Base (BAFB), which deliberately were designed to support not only AFCYBER but the long-term viability of BAFB itself - all of Louisiana’s $57M investment is focused on transportation and infrastructure investments that will support BAFB generally, as well as the potential for CBAT and other missions.

It is clear that cyber-related activities definitely will be a major part of future U.S. national security and military concerns, as well as significant funding priorities of the federal government.

We remain optimistic about the long-term potential of the Cyber Innovation Center, which is just as relevant today as it was when it was originally envisioned. As state and local leaders learned during a recent trip to Huntsville, these types of research-park facilities represent major economic development opportunities; however, they take years to fully develop. The CIC will be no different.

While we understand that recent leadership changes at USAF naturally have led to a review of the AFCYBER operation at the federal level, we will continue to position BAFB for a leadership role in that exciting mission no matter how the USAF ultimately structures its cyberspace activities.

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