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Tenth Fleet History (Continued)

Since World War II, the Navy, and the nation in general, have become more and more dependent on cyberspace. A study on the Joint Environment published by Joint Forces Command in 2008 stated: “The crucial enabler for America’s ability to project its military power for the past six decades has been its almost complete control over the global commons. From the American standpoint, the Battle of the Atlantic that saw the defeat of the German U-Boat menace in May 1943 was the most important victory of the Second World War. Any projection of military power in the future will require a similar enabling effort and must recognize that the global commons have now expanded to include the domains of cyber and space. The joint force must have redundancy built into each of these areas to ensure that access and logistics support are more than singlepoint safe and cannot be disrupted through a single enemy attack.”

The White House Cyberspace Policy Review of May 2009 stated that “America’s failure to protect cyberspace is one of the most urgent national security problems facing the new administration.” Two months later, Secretary of Defense Gates unveiled his plan for military cyberspace operations. In a memo to the Secretaries of the Armed Forces, he wrote, “Our increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to our national security. To address this risk effectively and to secure freedom of action in cyberspace, the Department of Defense requires a command that possesses the required technical capability and remains focused on the integration of cyberspace operations. Further, this command must be capable of synchronizing war-fighting effects across the global security environment as well as providing support to civil authorities and international partners.”

In the same fashion that the historic TENTH Fleet enabled the prosecution of the U-Boat threat and ensured access to the shipping lanes of the Atlantic, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the modern U.S. TENTH Fleet must enable the prosecution of threats in cyber space and ensure the Navy and the Nation have access. In a speech to CSIS this past October, Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead said, “The Navy requires unfettered access to assure communication capabilities in cyberspace – it is going to be a pervasive, persistent, and adaptive domain. I believe that having an organization and a Fleet that is looking globally, has the right skills and folks who are trained and experienced in it is the best defense.” Following the demonstrably successful model of the historic TENTH Fleet, today’s TENTH Fleet and Fleet Cyber Command will provide that globally looking, properly trained cadre of personnel.

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