The US military believes that the conflicts of great powers in the 21 st century, especially in the maritime domain, will be concentrated in the electromagnetic, cyberspace, or space domains. And every "engagement" in cyberspace, the compound cascading effect brought about by hacker attacks or leaks is no less than the consequences of acts of war. This paper takes the functions and tasks of the US Navy in carrying out cyberspace operations as the starting point, summarizes its force organization, and expounds its cyberspace training mode and analyzes the characteristics of cyberspace training based on the factors of training objects, training institutions, training stages, training contents, and training leaders.
In 2020, the U.S. Navy's 10th Fleet (Fleet Cyber Command) issued the "2020-2025 Strategic Plan", which clearly stated that the network should be used as a combat platform, and the fleet should be carried out in cryptographic warfare, and a group of well-trained combat personnel with professional skills far superior to strategic competitors should be cultivated to accelerate the construction of naval cyber forces. Up to now, the US Navy Fleet Cyber Command has grown into a combat force composed of more than 19,000 active-duty, reserve, and civilian personnel, with 26 active-duty commands, 29 reserve commands, and 40 cyber mission units under its jurisdiction around the world.
The U.S. Navy's cyberspace combat missions and force formation
The U.S. Navy's Cyber Command (FCC)/10th Fleet (C10F) is the main body of cyberspace operations, which was established in January 2010 and is mainly tasked with naval information network operation and maintenance, offensive cyberspace operations, defensive cyberspace operations, space operations, and signals intelligence. Based on the above tasks, the 10th Fleet plays three roles: the naval component of the US Cyber Command, the space component of the US Strategic Command, and the cryptographic (signals intelligence) component of the US National Security Agency.
Group photo of members of the U.S. Navy's Cyber Warfare Command
Guided by tasks, the units under the jurisdiction of the 10th Navy mainly include the Naval Cyber Warfare Command, the Naval Cyber Defense Operations Command, the Naval Information Warfare Command, and the Naval Information Force.
The Naval Cyber Warfare Command, codenamed "Task Force 1010" (CTF1010), was formerly known as the Naval Communications Command and was based at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. The primary function is to command, operate, maintain, and protect the Navy's Department of Defense information network and to provide reliable, secure space combat capabilities in support of strategic, campaignal, and tactical missions throughout the Navy. The subordinate units include the Navy's Atlantic Computer and Telecommunications Regional Main Station, the Pacific Computer and Telecommunications Regional Main Station, and the Navy's Satellite Operations Center.
The Naval Cyber Defense Operations Command, codenamed "Task Force 1020", is also located at Naval Base Norfolk, Virginia, formerly known as the Navy's Computer Emergency Response Unit, which is responsible for monitoring the internal Internet and tactical networks of the Navy and Marine Corps with 761,000 users in 300 bases in 16 countries, and coordinating and organizing naval cyberspace defense operations.
The U.S. Navy's cyberspace combat forces are formed
The Navy's Information Warfare Command mainly provides information facilities, equipment, and personnel, conducts research, development, testing, and evaluation of information operations, formulates information operations plans, and implements computer network defense. The Naval Information Warfare Command has several secondary commands, including the Naval Information Warfare Command (Task Force 1030) in Norfolk, the Naval Information Warfare Command in Texas (Task Force 1040), the Naval Information Warfare Command in Georgia (Task Force 1050), the Naval Information Warfare Command in Maryland (Task Force 1060), the Naval Information Warfare Command in Hawaii (Task Force 1070), Naval Information Warfare Command (Task Force 1080) in Colorado, which has global coverage and is capable of working with fleets and theater operations.
The Naval Information Force, formerly known as the Naval Information Superiority Force and the Naval Cyber Force. As a naval arms unit, the scope of its functions covers the fields of cryptography, signals intelligence, cyberspace, electronic warfare, information warfare, intelligence, and space, and is responsible for the construction, staffing, training, and equipment of all the navy's cyber units at sea and on shore, and organizes basic and comprehensive training for all cyber units, so as to ensure that the units reach the level of combat readiness and are able to participate in joint operations.
In August 2021, the U.S. Navy conducted what is claimed to be the largest naval exercise in 40 years, Large Scale Exercise-21, with about 25,000 participants from five fleets, including the 10th Fleet, and three Marine Expeditionary Forces, across 17 time zones and in multiple waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. In addition to conventional aircraft carrier strike groups, amphibious combat groups, and submarines, the Navy has also dispatched unmanned equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface ships, and unmanned underwater vehicles, and incorporated unmanned technology into large-scale joint exercises. The 10th Fleet assumed a functional role in the exercise, with the Naval Cyber Defense Operations Command providing real-time situational awareness of the exercise to the command center's on-duty commanders and incident response units; the Navy's Information Forces providing tactical network support to ensure that large-scale and multi-level communications networks are not interfered with; and the support fleet and the Information Warfare Commands of various theaters will carry out offensive and defensive operations in the network and information fields to meet the challenges of small tactical network detachments and information warfare units.
Organization and implementation of cyberspace training for the U.S. Navy
The main trainees of the US Navy's cyberspace training are information warfare officers and cryptographic technicians, and the training can be divided into shore training and sea training according to the area in which it is carried out. The purpose of shore training is twofold: First, to enable newcomers to master basic knowledge, technology, and ability in cyberspace warfare; second, to help "veterans" improve their ability and quality so that they can achieve promotion in technical rank, salary, and rank. The purpose of maritime training is to meet the mission needs of the ship formation, and to integrate the cyberspace combat capabilities of individuals and teams into the overall offensive and defensive capabilities of the ship formation, with a view to achieving the goal "in" and "through" cyberspace.
The main trainees are information warfare officers and cryptographic technicians. The history of the U.S. Navy's cyberspace operations dates back to the Civil War, when specially trained personnel intercepted and deciphered enemy signals and developed ways to protect their own communications. In October 1928, the first training course for radio interception operators of the Navy and Marine Corps was held. The original site of the school was in a bunker on the roof of the old Admiralty building, and the graduates were nicknamed the "Roof Gang". From 1928 to 1941, the school trained a total of 176 naval and marines, who were the first radio operators to enlist, forming the vanguard of naval cryptography. During the Battle of Midway, U.S. Navy cryptanalysts deciphered Japanese communications, giving the U.S. military an early advantage in the battle and ultimately a decisive victory. In 2005, the Navy renamed "Cryptographic Officer" to "Information Warfare Officer" to reflect the expansion of information warfare and cyber warfare capabilities. In 2016, the former Naval Information Superiority Force and the former Naval Cyber Force were merged and reorganized and renamed the "Naval Information Force".
According to the 10th Fleet, "the Electromagnetic Spectrum-Cyber Environment is the Navy's main operational area at present, with Information Warfare Officers and Cryptologic." Technicians) are the primary warfighters who are directly involved in all aspects of naval operations, deployed globally to support naval and joint military needs. "It can be said that the US Navy's information warfare officers and cryptography technicians are not only the main implementers of cyberspace operations, but also the main trainees of the Navy's cyberspace training.
U.S. Navy Cryptography Technician Position Setup and Basic Information
Information warfare officers are involved in five major directions, namely, cryptography warfare, information specialty, intelligence, network warfare engineering, naval meteorology, and oceanography. According to the type of business, it can be divided into the operational command category and the technology research and development category, the main tasks of the operational command category include serving as an officer on combat duty, carrying out computer network operations, planning information warfare in operations and exercises, and serving as commanders at all levels of the navy's information troops; and the main tasks of the technology research and development category are developing defense systems and participating in special research and development tasks.
Navy cryptographic technicians are a group of soldiers, which also involve five major directions, namely technology, collection, translation, network, and maintenance, and each type of post is subdivided according to the level. Soldiers are required to take the Comprehensive Military Career Aptitude Test (ASVAB) before joining the army, and the corresponding ASVAB score criteria vary depending on the content of the job.
U.S. Navy Cryptography Technician Position Setup and Basic Information
Organization and implementation of shore training. Shore training is usually organized and implemented by the corresponding school or training center. Among them, information warfare officers mainly come from the Naval Academy, the Naval Military Academy, the Officer Candidate School and other institutions, and usually have science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees. After graduating from the academy, the information warfare officers went to the Information Warfare Training Command of the Information Warfare Training Center in Virginia Beach to receive a three-week pre-job training, mainly to learn basic information warfare courses such as electromagnetic theory, tactical cryptography, and signal intelligence. Subsequently, according to the job category, they are assigned to the National Security Agency, aircraft carriers, information warfare command, naval information forces and other units, and participate in the business and on-the-job training (OJT) of their units.
Cryptographic technicians, as the basic force of the Navy's cyberspace operations, are mainly trained at the Navy's Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT) after being screened into this field by ASVAB. CIWT is one of the largest learning centers of the Naval Education and Training Command, with a total of 4 second-level commands, 1 direct unit and multiple training bases in the United States and Japan, which are responsible for different directions and different types of training missions, and train more than 26,000 cadets each year.
In terms of training standards, the U.S. Navy is governed by the Personnel Qualification Standards (PQS) and the Joint Cyberspace Training and Certification Standards (JCT&CS), which define the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that officers, soldiers, and civilians in cyberspace combat positions should have. According to the difference in the level of individual training, the U.S. Navy has also formulated three skill level standards, which are the apprentice level, the skilled worker level and the master level. Therefore, officers and men need to continuously improve their ability level through opportunities such as shore training, sea training, and on-the-job training.
Organization and implementation of training at sea. At present, the U.S. Navy's ship formation is implementing a training and deployment model called the "Fleet Response Optimization Program", which has a 36-month cycle and is divided into four phases: maintenance phase, basic phase, advanced/comprehensive phase, and continuous support phase. Among them, the maintenance phase mainly covers the repair and maintenance, launching and sea trials, and classroom teaching of the ship's equipment and facilities; the basic stage and the advanced/comprehensive stage mainly cover the training, assessment, and certification of various departments and specialties of the ship; and the continuous support stage is the on-site deployment.
In the ship formation, the training leadership levels from high to low are: ship formation commander, naval information warfare training group/naval information warfare development center, ship commander/ship training staff officer, and ship training group. Each level is responsible for the planning, implementation, evaluation and optimization of each stage of training according to their functions.
The training content is divided into phases with different emphasis. In the maintenance and basic phases, training and assessment are carried out by the Navy's Information Warfare Training Group, which is aimed at individual personnel and duty teams (consisting of information warfare officers and cryptographic technicians). The training content includes knowledge level examination and certification exercises, and the training time usually lasts for 3~6 months. The main subjects of the cyberspace warfare certification exercise include: reviewing the management of cyberspace, computer network training, verifying traditional security compliance, verifying cyber defense, verifying network management, verifying system management, demonstrating network proficiency, demonstrating highly classified isolated intelligence information networks, and demonstrating procedures for responding to cyber security incidents and adverse events.
In the advanced/integrated phase, the ship formation conducts advanced cyberspace combat exercises, the content of which is mainly "joint training" group tactics, and the Navy's Information Warfare Development Center is responsible for guiding the implementation, and the training period usually lasts for three months.
At the stage of continuous support, the ship formations will be ready to conduct rapid and sustained combat operations. During this period, the warship's training team will assume the role of instructors and conduct regular exercises and training in cyberspace operations to ensure combat readiness. The training subjects of the regular drill are mainly the subjects of the certification exercise, but the difference is that the training is more frequent, and it is conducted every 30 or 90 days on average.
Management and security of training. During the period of organizing and carrying out shore training and sea training in the field of cyberspace, the Navy not only adopted the Navy's existing general training management methods and means, but also carried out targeted and relevant support in light of the actual situation in the field of cyberspace.
The content of the advanced comprehensive stage training of the ship formation
The first is to make full use of the training database. The Navy uses an application called the Training and Combat Readiness Information Service (TORIS), which can be used to plan, execute, track, display, report on the training of all units, and participate in the development of training standards, collect, store and report on the combat readiness of ships, which is an important tool for commanders at all levels to grasp the training of troops. In training in the cyberspace sphere, the program is used to track the completion of certification exercises, normalization exercises, advanced exercises, as well as calculate the effectiveness index in this mission area, and at the same time report to the higher-level information system - the "Navy Defense Combat Readiness Reporting System". As a companion, the U.S. Navy has also developed and used two sets of databases that are primarily used to obtain the qualifications, accreditations, and certifications of individual personnel, namely Relational Administrative Data Management (R-ADM) and Advanced Skills Management (ASM).
Second, clear conditions are set for each stage. The US Navy requires that the ship formation move from the maintenance stage to the continuous support stage, and the former stage must lay a qualified foundation for the next stage. To this end, the Navy has clarified the necessary conditions for the stage transition from five aspects, namely: personnel, equipment, logistics, training, and ordnance. For example, from basic to advanced training, the criteria are "to pass all certification exercises with a score of 80 or higher and to achieve an overall score of 80% or higher in the TORIS Mission Area Effectiveness Index." Training from the Advanced/Integrated to Continuous Support phases is conditional on "completion of advanced certification exercises, participation in the Operational Commander Course, and achievement of a TRIS effectiveness index of 80 percent or above in all tactical mission areas."
The third is to strengthen the request for instructions and report and adjust and correct deviations. When the US Navy warship formation organized training in the cyberspace field, it followed the basic law of planning before training and reporting after training. Taking the basic stage as an example, the command directly under the higher level of the warship submits a "training certification plan for the basic stage" to the commander one month before the deadline for the maintenance phase, with the elements including the appraisal of the combat readiness status before training, the cycle and duration of various types of training, the timetable of the certification plan, and possible interference factors; after the completion of the training in the basic stage, the information warfare training group submits a "training completion report" to the commander at the higher level, and the elements include the actual implementation of the training, the actual effectiveness index, the progress of the certification, and the interference factors. At the same time, in order to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the training, the Navy corrects deviations in a timely manner according to the problems that arise in the training. In the continuous support phase, for example, once there is a failure of the certification incident or the mission area effectiveness index is less than 60%, the ship's immediate superior command will organize corrections, including but not limited to domain experts on board the ship for guidance, additional supervision, additional training, re-identification, recruitment of more senior and experienced personnel, and restrictions on combat operations.
Features of the U.S. Navy's cyberspace training
Training standards and content are updated frequently. CIWT, as a special agency for naval information warfare training, is responsible for maintaining PQS documents in the field of information warfare. In recent years, with the growth of technology, information and network needs, PQS has also increased, and CIWT holds 18-24 PQS update seminars each year in coordination with the Naval Personnel Command, the Naval Special Operations Command, the Naval Information Force and other units according to the needs of the 10th Fleet. The workshop is staffed by subject matter experts (SMEs) and project analysts, and the training documents are reviewed and reviewed, and updates and revisions are given. From May to August 2022 alone, CIWT reportedly held 10 PQS update workshops. In addition, the training content is constantly updated and optimized. In the second half of 2021, CIWT successively developed two new courses, Cyber Defense Analyst and AN/SLQ-32(V)6 Electronic Warfare System Maintenance, and introduced the Continuous Network Training Environment (PCTE) and Multi-purpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D (MRTS 3D) as training platforms, respectively, to achieve "what is used in the front, what is practiced".
The training is geographically dispersed and diverse. The Navy, as the main force in which the United States shows its military presence, is a typical feature of its global deployment. Correspondingly, in the organization and implementation of training, it also presents the characteristics of multi-place training and informal formality. During the shore training period, the second-level command and a number of training bases under the jurisdiction of the Information Warfare Training Center alone are located in eight different locations in Yokosuka, Japan, and five states in the United States. Formally, it can be organized and implemented by the ship's training staff officers and training groups on their own, or the information warfare training group can send tactical instructors or limited training groups to the ship to provide guidance.
Training at sea is mainly defensive. In recent years, the US Navy has vigorously developed the concept of distributed maritime operations (DMO), emphasizing increasing the offensive and defensive capabilities of individual ships and dispersing formation deployment in vast sea areas, with a view to creating a situation in which multiple attack sources can strike at multiple enemy targets. For this reason, in the training of naval surface ship formations, cyberspace combat forces are regarded as supporting and supporting, and it is necessary to ensure that the command and communication network of the ships is smooth and that signal intelligence can be captured and deciphered in a timely manner. For example, of the 23 tactical missions in the two major mission areas of cyberspace operations and cryptography of surface ship formations, only one ("carrying out electronic attacks") is an offensive operation, while the remaining 23 are aimed at defense, support, and daily operation and maintenance.
The demand for specialized training has increased. At present, the Navy's information warfare officers and cryptographic technicians, as the main players in conducting cyberspace operations, have a growing demand for training every year, and the report of the Navy's Information Warfare Training Center shows that in the past three years, an average of 1,000 trainees have been added each year. However, at the same time, these two teams also have problems such as unclear responsibilities, messy post establishment, and general training. In view of this, in the second half of 2023, the Navy's Information Forces will separate the personnel of cryptographic technicians (networks) (codenamed "CTN") from those engaged in cyberspace operations among information warfare officers, and develop a new role category and symbols for them to distinguish them from other professional positions.
Disclaimer: This article is transferred from Military Digest, the original authors Yin Zhiling, Kong Guang, etc. The content of the article is the original author's personal point of view, and this official account is compiled/reprinted only to share and convey different views, if you have any objections, please contact us!
Transferred from丨Military Digest
Author丨Yin Zhiling, Kong Guang, etc
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