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Vermont Guard prepares for cyber war

NORTHFIELD, Vt. — The Vermont National Guard formally activated a new unit Saturday whose mission will be to train Air Force personnel to fight wars in cyberspace.

The 229th Information Operations Squadron will be based at the National Guard armory on the campus of Norwich University.

“If you don’t know what information operations is, it’s the future,” Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, said at Saturday’s ceremony.

And the Vermont Air National Guard’s role in training military came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., Dubie said.

“Within about, I would say, two, two-and-a-half years of (being given the mission) the Air Force told us they couldn’t operate without us,” said Dubie.

As an example of the power of cyber warfare, Dubie pointed to a cyber attack on the computer systems of the government of the European nation of Estonia.

Estonian government officials said more than 1 million computers from around the world were used to attack the country’s computers. The attacks targeted government offices and corporations, including the Baltic country’s six major banks.

“There are attacks every day on our government infrastructure, there are attacks every day on our government Web sites,” Dubie said. “We can’t operate without the systems of our cyber network.”

The 229th will train airmen from around the world via the Internet, said Vermont Air National Guard Master Sgt. Bill Cunningham.

Before the creation of the 229th, the people involved with the information technology training were on loan from other guard units, Cunningham said.

“Information operations is the way of the future,” Cunningham said. “It’s a way we can leverage information and put some non-kinetic options on the table in the war fight.”

Kinetic options refer to traditional warfare using bombs and bullets. But information operations are more than just working with computer networks.

“Instead of bombing a target maybe we will talk to the populace, win some hearts and minds, tell them how best to surrender,” Cunningham said.