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Cybersecurity can no longer be viewed as a technology-only problem and segmented into stovepipes where the U.S. Defense Department carries out one set of tasks; the civilian government another; and industry does its own thing, said Adm. Michael Rogers, USN, director of the NSA and commander of U.S. Cyber Command. “It must be viewed more broadly and must be tackled from a national security perspective,” Adm. Rogers said during a morning West 2017 presentation Thursday with Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), former NATO commander.

Information warfare is an aggressive game of soccer where not only are all the fans on the field with the players, but no one is wearing uniforms. Unlike the dominance the U.S. military enjoyed for years in the conventional warfare realm, the lack of physical and geographic boundaries in cyberspace test modern warfighting doctrine, said Vice Adm. Marshall Lytle III, USCG, during a panel discussion at the West 2017 conference, co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute and taking place this week in San Diego.

Emerging cyber trends such as the rapid increase in the number of bad actors, increased capabilities and sophistication, and the high degree of automation complicates a key question posed to U.S. military leaders: Are the armed forces ready to fight? 

It is imperative that the United States—government and private companies alike—begin using its inherent innovative spirit to think exponentially and develop technologies that will save time, dollars and lives while defeating the nation's adversaries, said Adm. Harry Harris, USN, commander of U.S. Pacific Command. Exponential thinking were the buzzwords of his address and the cornerstone of what likely will help define the future of the U.S. military, he shared at West 2017. But getting there requires the powers that be to break paradigms that will take military forces to the next level.

Of all the threats facing U.S. military forces, Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), is most worried about the dynamic, manmade world of cyber. Stavridis kicked off the West 2017 conference on Tuesday, delivering a keynote that touched on a litany of threats from terrorism to the rise of conventional enemies, political gridlock, narcotics and even Mother Nature. The theme for year’s conference addresses the question: Ready for Today, Modernize for Tomorrow: How Can We Maintain the Edge?

Tyonek Global Services Inc., Madison, Alabama, has been awarded a $9,071,595 firm-fixed-pric

Progeny Systems Corp.,* Manassas, Virginia, is being awarded a $7,954,769 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-6294)

Although Americans expect major cyber attacks to be a way of life in the near future and lack trust in modern institutions to protect their personal data, they fail to follow cyber best practices, the Pew Research Center reports.

The U.S. Army is responding to the high demand for cyber experts with a new program that could let qualified civilians be commissioned directly into the service with a rank up to colonel. The Defense Department also is looking into whether the idea could work for the other services.