This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Experts have been predicting the onset of cyber warfare for decades. Yet, despite the relative ease and anonymity with which cyber-attacks can be conducted on military targets, the preponderance of historical cyber-related actions has been largely confined to the realms of espionage and crime. So far, close integration of cyberspace operations with terrestrial military operations is a rare, if slightly growing, occurrence in warfare. While discussions about cyber warfare have raged in academia and government in recent years, they have primarily focused on the impacts and implications that cyberspace operations have at the strategic level of war. Comparatively little research has been done to analyze how cyberspace operations will impact the battlefield. We propose a framework for military planners to envision ways that cyberspace operations can be used to affect the battlefield and integrate with terrestrial combat operations. We then apply that framework to analyze a thought experiment involving a hypothetical conflict on the Korean peninsula in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what cyberspace operations may mean for the future of land warfare.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

I. The Growing Importance of Cyber Space on the Modern Battlefield * A. Introduction * B. Research Question * C. Methodology * II. Investigating Cyber and Its Effects on the Battlefield * A. What Is Cyber? * B. What Are the Battlefield Effects of "Cyber"? * C. Building a Conceptual Framework * D. Conclusions from the Literature Review * III. Thought Experiment—Part I * A. Introduction * B. What is the DODIN? * 1. How Dependent Are U.S. Land Forces on the DODIN? * 2. How Vulnerable Is the DODIN to Attack? * C. How Do Battlefield Cyberspace Operations Impact Land Forces? A Korean Scenario Part 1 * D. Conclusion * IV. Thought Experiment—Part II * A. Introduction * B. How Do Battlefield Cyberspace Operations Impact Land Forces? A Korean Scenario Part 2 * C. Conclusion * V. Analysis and Conclusion * A. Introduction * B. Summary of Findings * C. Implications * D. A Way Ahead: Organizational Parallels to Human Intelligence Operations * E. Merging Bits With Bullets

Experts have been predicting the onset of cyber warfare for decades. So far, digital espionage and crime have made up the preponderance of historical cyber-related actions, despite the purported ease and anonymity of executing cyber-attacks against military targets. Yet, close integration of cyberspace operations with terrestrial military operations is a rare, if slightly growing, occurrence in warfare. In 2008, Russia invaded the small neighboring country of Georgia. Russian-coordinated cyber-attacks, in support of a conventional ground force invasion, degraded the government of Georgia's ability to communicate through the Internet. From 2013 to 2015, Russia also used cyber warfare in support of its annexation of Crimea and the continued destabilization of Eastern Ukraine. In 2016, the United States established Joint Task Force Areas to conduct cyberspace operations against the Islamic State in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. It seems the use of cyber in warfare is growing.