The Sad and Sorry Tale of Cyber Command’s Seven-Year Failure

U.S. Cyber Command has failed in its force generation responsibilities since being given them in 2017, negligently allowing this critical warfighting capability to reach a point of failure. The command wrongly assumed the force generation phase ended in 2018 and failed to provide the necessary oversight, policy, or guidance for sustaining the force. The suggestion to emulate the U.S. Special Operations Command model is misleading and unworkable due to fundamental differences between the two organizations. This seven-year period of decline provides strong empirical evidence to support the argument for establishing a separate U.S. cyber service. The core problem was a misunderstanding and neglect of the continuous process required for force generation.