So there will be guys in uniform dedicated to not just defending the milnets and civnets, but also developing offensive tactics as well. Gliders are probably not going to be involved. =)

More details are available in the text of SECAF Michael W. Wynne’s speech last November, to A C4ISR conference.

In the same manner, we note a fascinating analysis of the recent real world “cyberwar” involving Estonia and Russia, compared to its fictionalized counterpart from the dawn of the networking era…..

….What strikes us most about this comparison is the difference between the fictional vision of an advanced state-owned, platform and shooter heavy special operations mission – against the reality of a distributed, commercial off the shelf capabilities-centric event for which attribution, let alone intent, is difficult to characterize effectively.

• Yes, some attacks require you to get up close and personal, but the real-world cyberattack in question didn’t require physical proximity. You are correct that in many cases, getting someone onsite is the best way into a system.
• Some 1337 types do like to build their own machines, but I know lots of people who’d rather not bother and just concentrate on their code or their cracking. As a wise man once said: “Computer science is as much about computers as astronomy is about telescopes.”
• Leather impractical? It’s lasted for thousands of years because it’s so damn practical and good lookin’ to boot. And jeans have got to be one of the easiest to care for garments around — millions of college students and slackers can’t be wrong. As for fatigues and tac vest — that’s the way of Mao, not the Tao. I do agree that the mirrorshades are optional.

Leather may look pretty but is impractical. Black jeans are maintenance-heavy. Fatigues and tactical vest – the more pockets the better – is the way of the Tao. Mirrorshades are optional.

The most elite folks build their own custom machines – or at least specialized coprocessors – from reconfigurable hardware. There is a corner in the future that belongs to the FPGA-like family of architectures. Far future will see the same on molecular level.

I CAN HAS CYBERBURGER???

Those megabytes were not RAM. They were “hot” data. Makes a bit of a difference.

The big difference here is that cyberpunks were after things on computers not connected to the net. When you’re after a secured system that’s guarded by armed troops, the street samurai come in handy.

Of course, Gibson’s early work (and that of his imitators) is also full of anachronisms. There are no cellphones. The USSR still exists (and is a powerful presence). A few megabytes of RAM is a hot commodity on the black market. It’s fiction, and nothing dates so quickly as the future.

I disagree! Gibson’s account of Op Screaming Fist sounds much more old-fashioned than the Estonia attack; it could almost be a slightly updated version of the WW2 Bruneval Raid or Op Gunnerside. Commandos actually parachuting in to the site (well, microlighting); gunfights; anti-aircraft fire… all very 1940s. In reality, we’re dealing with worldwide networks of hijacked computers, taking down not just a military computer but a country’s entire government! From anywhere on earth! Mobs of anonymous teenagers – real “cyber punks”, rather than crewcut Green Beret types – writing their own homebrew weapons, rather than stealing them from government armouries…
Much more unsettling and different than Gibson imagined.