Marine Corps General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, said in a speech on Feb 13 that the US has lost some of its edge in conventional warfare, and is “not superior in irregular warfare.” To meet the demands of this century, he said, the military has to transition toward superiority in “hybrid warfare”–being able to fight both in conventional and unconventional means.

As the blueprint for that transition, he pointed to the recently published Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO), approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And part of the CCJO spells out the role that space and cyberwarfare will play in a hybrid force:

Future operational success will also rely increasingly on the use of space and cyberspace. Providing adequate lift and maintaining sufficient control of the global “commons” — areas of sea, air, space, and cyberspace that belong to no one state — thus will remain a vital imperative of future joint force design.

The Kyrgyz parliament is set to vote on a bill that will close the US airbase in that country. Russia has been putting deep financial pressure on Kyrgyzstan to close the base, offering a significant financial carrot to do so in the way of loans and aid. But there’s also been a stick involved: a cyber-attack similar to those on Estonia and Georgia.
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