Operating the Cyberspace Domain

Cyberspace is a constructed environment and, like an ecosystem, is constantly growing and changing. Constructing and operating that portion of the cyberspace environment for military operations is how the military cyber workforce maintains existing information and communications technologies (ICT), while providing new ICT capability across the Department of Defense (DOD). This paper focuses on constructing and operating the DOD portion of the cyberspace ecosystem through new information and communications technologies, an endeavor that is a military mission, and requires a new approach to organizing, training, and equipping the Air Force cyber workforce. Enterprise computing based on cloud technologies is the next significant change in how we securely construct and operate cyberspace. This paper discusses how cloud computing is an improvement on securely provisioning information and communications technology, how cloud computing addresses today#65533;s warfighting needs for mission assurance, and the benefits of cloud computing in a resource-constrained budget environment. Finally, this paper takes a holistic and interconnected approach in recommending how to organize, train, and equip the Air Force cyber workforce to implement an Air Force enterprise architecture based on cloud technologies.