I would not be surprised if the United States got a specialized "Cyber Force" branch of the military sooner rather than later to go along with Army, Navy, and Air. There are apparently already papers about it like this one from 2008:
Granted, that niche is somewhat filled by the NSA, but it is not a branch of the military per se. And increasingly cyberspace will be as important or more so than land, sea, and air.
The problem is any formal "Cyber Force" announcement will kick off the 21st Century arms race. But forming a Cyber Force in secret will severely limit effectiveness. I think we're about at the tipping point when the United States sees a hacker battalion here and there as not enough. It needs strong hacker branch.
PDF: http://www.albanylawjournal.org/articles/solce_0609.pdf
Abstract: https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?actio...
Granted, that niche is somewhat filled by the NSA, but it is not a branch of the military per se. And increasingly cyberspace will be as important or more so than land, sea, and air.
The problem is any formal "Cyber Force" announcement will kick off the 21st Century arms race. But forming a Cyber Force in secret will severely limit effectiveness. I think we're about at the tipping point when the United States sees a hacker battalion here and there as not enough. It needs strong hacker branch.