By Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
WASHINGTON (Nov. 15, 2006) -- Air Force leaders will gather at the Pentagon Nov. 16 to discuss the way ahead for the Air Force's role in cyberspace.
During the Cyber Summit, leaders from the Air Force intelligence, space, communications, combat air forces and other communities will discuss the way ahead as the Air Force continues to operationalize cyberspace as a warfighting domain.
Cyberspace became an official Air Force domain, like air and space, on Dec. 7, 2005, when Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley introduced a new Air Force mission statement that included the words "to fly and fight in air, space, and cyberspace."
Structure was added when Secretary Wynne announced Nov. 2 that 8th Air Force, headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., was named as the service's operational "cyber command," responsible for fighting in that domain.
"The aim is to develop a major command that stands alongside Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command, as the providers of forces that the president, combatant commanders, and the American people can rely on for preserving the freedom of access and commerce, in air, space and now cyberspace," Secretary Wynne said.