Michael Wynne, the recently resigned Secretary of the Air Force, spoke at the 2nd Air Force Cyberspace Symposium last week in Marlborough, MA and provided his strategic vision and words of wisdom to the attending men and women of the Air Force as well as industry partners regarding the future of the Air Force's Cyber Command. Since Wynne has been a significant champion in the debate over the role cyberspace will play in the Air Force's overall vision, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announcement regarding Mr. Wynne's resignation (as well as that of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley) had many asking what it meant for the future of this effort.

In Marlborough, as Wynne took the stage he was greeted by raucous applause and a standing ovation that almost brought a tear to my eye. You could feel the sheer sense of admiration and loyalty that the audience had for him and how they felt that they were losing a true leader. Wynne spoke with absolutely no reference to his resignation, simply addressing what he felt to be important concerns regarding the future of the Air Force and Cyber Command. He spoke about the continued need within AF and by industry to provide innovation regarding combating network and electronic warfare (EW) which he addressed as the nature of war in cyberspace. The data and security of the Federal Government's networks needs to be trusted and validated. He stated numerous times that this was not just an Air Force initiative but one that was very much Joint in nature, encompassing ground (Army) and maritime (Navy) forces as well. At one point, he reassured the crowd that these efforts were not dead and that a Cyber Doctrine is being written and that a budget is working its way through the Congressional process. Wynne referred to the current status of Air Force's cyberspace mission as being in the "2nd grade" and still very much in the early phase of where they want to go. He understood that change is slow but that a foundation needs to be embraced by all Federal agencies.

With his closing remarks, Wynne left the stage with humility and hope that the future of the Air Force would be left in good hands (those hands have not been determined yet). He left the audience with the sense that the hard work over the past few years trying to prove that Cyberspace is truly a warfighting domain has not been lost. With a set date of October 1, 2008 for the initial operational capability (IOC) of AFCYBER still looking to be on target, and also the reassured confidence from many of AFCYBER's organizational commanders that this mission will prevail, the fight against cyber terrorism and securing our networks does not look to be one that will fade anytime soon. With a new administration looming, many are curious to see what this will do to the priority of this mission. Yet, Wynne has no doubt that the vigorous determination within his staff will continue to show the new Air Force leadership, Congress, and the entire Federal Government that the cyber domain is a battle ground where the United States fights daily the emerging risks and technologies which continue to threaten national security.

On a side note, I'm offering a free lunch to anyone who can accurately predict where Mr. Wynne and DISA's retiring Lt. Gen. Croom will end up next.