Militaries in Cyberspace: Approaches, Expectations and Outcomes

Militaries are the sword arm of the state, entrusted with defending the state against all threats that would harm its interests. These threats are increasingly emanating from cyberspace and militaries around the world are being called upon formally to undertake responsibility for defending against threats from this domain in addition to the existing physical domains of land, sea, air and space. The unique nature of this domain has required some restructuring on the part of the military. This has led to its own set of complications when it comes to re-alignment of organisation, recruitment of personnel, and working with other actors in the civilian space. This article looks at the cyber force structures in a number of countries to draw out the underlying logic behind the creation and modifications that the military in particular has gone through over a period of 10 years. It looks at the initial approaches, the expectations behind those approaches, and the eventual outcomes.