Air Force officials have released more details on the structure of the upcoming Cyber Command, currently targeted for an initial stand-up date of 1 October.

The date appears to be very aggressive and I can only imagine the amount of planning going on in bases across the country to get this to happen.

My foremost thought is that of personnel.

Think about the logistics of that. A base has not even been named yet (interim location is Barksdale AFB, LA). The process has already started, but they have to figure out which Airmen, civilians, and contractors are going to man it and get them and their families moved to the new base.

The Air Force’s interim plan sounds like it would be a good idea for a permanent plan. Forgo the traditional ‘everybody on one base’ command structure and go…well…virtual (this is the Cyber Command after all).

As Secretary of the Air Force, Michael W. Wynne, explained on Capitol Hill recently, “We’ve asked [the command] to become virtual. In other words, we’ve said, we don’t want you to be a standard … command as you might see from the Napoleonic era. …We asked them to look [into commercial] companies [to] see how they operate and minimize the headquarters. … [Many of our units are] already located in the various states around the country, so our first inclination is to leave those in place.” (From Air Force Cyber Command News)

This attitude is quite refreshing and very forward-thinking for a military command. Here’s to hoping that the policies coming forth from the Cyber Command is just as refreshing.