Cybersecurity Defense and the Need for Assistant Forces

The chapter welcomed Col. Joshua Rockhill, USAF, at its September monthly luncheon. Col. Rockhill is the director of operations, 16th Air Force, Air Forces Cyber, and Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. His responsibilities span more than 44,000 personnel conducting worldwide operations. Col. Rockhill's Joint Forces Headquarters-Cyber personnel perform operational planning as part of coordinated efforts to support Air Force component and combatant commanders.

The 16th Air Force has numerous cyber tasks to support the nation and assist with cybersecurity defense. Col. Rockhill explained the need to push for more assistant forces. As it relates to cybersecurity defense, there is not a lot of time for subjectivity. "And by removing the subjectivity in any given space, we will become better at it."

Col. Rockhill explained that the Air Force is good at detection and response but will need recovery support from industry for efficiency with kinetic and nonkinetic solutions. "The good news is that we are making technology strides, but we need help with aggregating all of these technologies." With the help of industry, the Air Force can create a flow of information exchange where everyone works in sequence to accomplish the mission.

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