PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. --
Earlier this year, 12 Guardians from Peterson SFB shifted away from base IT support to focus on defensive cyber operations.
All 12 Guardians were reassigned from working with the Defense Red Switch Network.
“This was driven by the Chief of Space Operations’ vision to get all Cyber Guardians and operations into defensive cyber operations roles, instead of the base operations support IT role,” said U.S. Space Force Master Sgt. Matthew Crafton, 21st Communications Squadron test control flight chief.
Presently, many Cyber Guardians perform IT functions.
“Although it is important to the Space Force’s ability to project power from its bases, our Cyber Guardians must be laser focused on warfare,” said Brig. Gen. Devin Pepper, Deputy Commanding General, Operations, Space Operations Command. “To meet and defeat adversaries in cyberspace, we must rapidly divest the IT mission through the commercialization of network services, and transition Cyber Guardians to cyber squadrons and invest in developing world class cyber operators.”
Some of the mission sets these Guardians get to be a part of include:
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Cyber Warfare
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Supra Coder
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Space Aggressors
“This change is strengthening the Space Force’s cyber squadrons,” said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Lorica, 527th Space Aggressors Squadron operator.