Thread by @stevenconlon

The @IRLCoDF is out. This 🧵will focus on the #cyberspace aspect of the report, peppered with fact and my opinion. Here we go....
CoDF recognises that cyberspace is a key military domain beyond 2030 and is a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

the CoDF believes that the NATO standards for training and equipping the DF for cyber capabilities should be our benchmark and the gov needs to align policy, funding and resources with this in mind.

Recognizing the inherent interdependences of the cyber domain a national security policy is necessary, engaging the NCSC, Gardai, NSAC and other agencies. (Problem here is we will not have a national security strategy).

CoDF recognises that retention of key capabilities in cyber defence / offence is a major issue and this needs to be recognised.

The Air Force needs to be able to leverage UAVs and satellite technology - this is going to require a level of upskilling and private sector engagement our military is not currently equipped to deal with.

Interestingly the CoDF does highlight space as a new warfare domain - this is very forward thinking and very welcome. States that this could form part of a revitalization of the reserves.

The creation of a Joint Cyber Defence Command bringing all cyber/tech related DF activities under one command is excellent.

We have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others here and to design a Joint Cyber Cmd that is ready for today's and tomorrow's challenges in an agile way if adopted.

Increased civil-military engagement for countering hybrid warfare - very important and also important to know the difference between an ally and hostile cyber operation - currently we have no visibility on this in a cohesive way.

The CoDF acknowledges the very real danger of China's growth in the tech space and Emerging Disruptive Technology. It recognizes China's aggressive attempt to dominate key tech and industries and the threats this poses.

To this end it predicts that this will mean #5G and other emerging techs could pose a threat to Ireland, especially where China and the US clash. It highlights the need for a multilateral approach to mitigating this, even through the EU.

It recognises that Ireland tech sector has the potential to become a proxy-battlefield for the current technological great power struggle - Bursting that bubble, it already is, and Russia & China have been aggressively upped their activities in such for two years now.

It recognizes that cyber is a borderless domain and as such should be approaches as one, and realise that cyberattacks, hybrid warfare or other cyber engagements have the potential to impact Ireland.

An excellent analysis is offered about the capabilities needed for the #cyberdomain - it highlights that the status quo does not match government pronouncements on their own needs assessment.

It recognizes that cyber domain should be viewed in the context of the peacekeeping operations we will engage with in the future - this is very important. Cyber can be very cheap to deploy.

Very important point on network resilience (something Rivada Networks highlighted) - the DF needs to be assured they can trust the tech and networks they are using. I continue to believe they should have a say on untrustworthy vendors in critical infrastructure they use.

The CoDF also recommends involvement in relevant EU PESCO projects for cyber - very important - and the development of a strategic relationship, collaboration and coordination with other national and international agencies with activities in the cyber domain.

It specifically calls out sharing information and cooperating with the private sector - cannot stress how important this is. The risk of a DF cyber op being compromised by private sector who find DF op and think its a hostile actor is massive and could bring down an op.

Two options beyond the status quo are a Joint Cyber Command with either 100 or 300 specialist personnel. CoDF states that traditional recruitment for these posts will need to be abandoned. Very true.

The CoDF does call for full transparency for cyber operations -this is very important. It also states that the role of the DF in a cyber incident - especially one of national impact needs to be better understood.

Adopting either of the above, according to the CoDF would "capabilities for defending the State from a military attack and deterring aggressive acts against the State in the cyber domain".

Well it would be a good start.

The CoDF expresses concern about the ability to engage in cyber research and innovation and calls for an increase in the budget for this and engaging European partners in this and engaging Military Off the Shelf products.

#AI , #MachineLearning , #5G, threats of electronic warfare, #QuantumComputing are all highlighted, but basically in name only. Better than ignoring it!

The CoDF seeks the ability to deploy our cyber capability in oversea operations - we have a great chance here to provide additional value from our peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations if this was realised.

Again the CoDF stress that appropriate legal and transparent measures be put in place to govern any cyber-related military intelligence activities. Yes, Yes, we must get this right, there's a lot out there we can learn from.

Some of the cyber related DF capabilities could include:
Cyber Defence
Deployable Cyber mission teams
Electronic Warfare
Mutli-sensor intelligence
EM imagery and geo-spatial analysis.

All of the above would be excellent capabilities.

It calls for the cyber mission teams to engage with EU and NATO training in the domain - to keep skill levels at an operational effectiveness to combat the ever changing threat in the cyber domain.

The CoDF stresses the importance of working closely with the Gardai, the NCSC etc - really think this will need to be codified. Some in the Gardai are not going to react to well if some of this is implemented.

It recommends that the National Defence Academy would include cyber intelligence Training

On Space the CoDF are a little thin on recommendations, maybe because they felt they may be biting off too much here. But some interesting things crop up around satellites and future weapon technologies such as directed energy weapons (yes, phasers etc).

Glad to see it also recognises the real threat of swarm drone technologies as well as bioweapons. Ensuring that the DF can embrace and leverage and guard against such threats will be vital for national security of the State.

The Head of the Joint Cyber Defence Command would:
manage the DF IT, CIS and other supports.
Direct defensive intel and offensive cyber ops.
All of the above should be inline with norms of responsible state behaviours in cyber - That's basically don't do what China & Russia do

There will be a challenge to really quantify what international best practice points are going to be in this domain and we have a real opportunity to set some global norms here.

The CoDF does stress the importance of civil-military engagement and this should include a staffing of the DoD to actually understand these issues - I have no confidence the DoD will hire the right people for this.

So that's that. It reads very well, and congrats to the members of the CoDF. Now its over to the government to implement. This could be very exciting times for our country and our role in the world where cyber and space will play a pivotal role in international security.