Cyber Warfare Will Require a Rma

Current National Defense doctrine, ergo Army doctrine, reflects strategic assumptions contrary to current realities, which are based on current intellectuality mired in obsolete thinking and strategy. The acceptance of computer technology as a reality of warfare gives birth to a new American Army force. Mature military development allows us to recognize the transition from Cold War thought processes to more modern ones; however, recent examples from the Russian/Georgian conflict resonate dramatically and warrant further study in depth that should guide the US Army to avoid any similar unpardonable surprise. The invasion of the Georgian Republic clarifies the existence of a new threat. Currently, the US is unprepared for that current threat to which a contemporary battle space--a new domain--has been created where the US Army must develop an innovative force to counter such threats. The utilization of cyber warfare in concert with Russian conventional forces, Special Forces, and psychological operations highlights the criticality of expediting the instutionaliztion of cyber warfare innovations into US Army doctrine, training, and force development.

Rick Atkinson wrote in _An Army at Dawn_ (2002) that "it is pardonable to be defeated...but unpardonable to be surprised." And von Clausewitz (_On War_, 1832) roughly stated that every generation has its own kind of war and defeat is gauged by limiting conditions and preconceptions where innovations, unfortunately come, too, late and at a huge price. The creativity born from innovation, certainly the aptitude to grasp technologies immediately must have an effective and capable proponent able to communicate its benefits and not waiting for an initial surprise attack. Certainly lessons are learned from others' mistakes as in the case of Russia invading the Georgian Republic, but those lessons are merely noted because innovations cannot be derived when the current political bureaucracy stymies innovation and subsequent...