Hacking could become weapon in U.S. arsenal

The most advanced expertise on operating in cyberspace is held by the National Security Agency, the Defense Department intelligence arm that monitors foreign phone calls, e-mails and other communication. A senior defense official said the NSA "is where the mother lode of expertise is. Those are the folks that have been looking at the capability for the longest period of time."

Overseeing all of these various military efforts in cyberspace is the Defense Department's Strategic Command, which is primarily responsible for the nation's nuclear arsenal.

Several senior Pentagon officials would discuss the Defense Department's cyberspace work only if their names were withheld because of sensitive intelligence issues. But officials involved in the cyberspace debate are sparring over not only what to do but who within the military should do it.

Because of the difficulty of training cyber-warriors and the need to closely monitor their work long term, many top Pentagon officials believe that the most advanced cyber-experts should remain at the NSA.

A senior Pentagon official said that "exploiting" computer networks to gather intelligence is currently the most important use of cyber-power. "Clearly, the exploitation activities have been preeminent," the official said.

But citing Russia's use of cyberspace, some current and former officials believe that the U.S. military services, if allowed, could move beyond intelligence gathering and develop a broad array of offensive capabilities that would fit well with conventional combat.

"Let's not mistake intelligence collection with military operations," said Lani Kass, a senior Air Force official and former director of the service's Cyberspace Task Force. "The mission of the NSA is to collect signals intelligence, and it is very good at it. But the NSA is not a war-fighting organization."

If the military is allowed to develop more advanced cyber-warfare methods, the United States would be able to routinely launch an airstrike at a target and simultaneously use an electronic attack to disable defenses or spread disinformation, said Wynne, the former Air Force secretary.

"It isn't just about protecting your networks," Wynne said. "It is about having a soldier with an invasive tool he can fire at an antenna, and put some information into it, and from there do some damage."

While declining to specify every cyberspace activity they might want to develop, military officials emphasized that all such efforts would be governed by the laws of war and international treaties.