The goal was to develop a concept for improved structure, technologies, or processes to present at the end of the semester to the Air Staff rewriting the Air Force Instruction guiding C2 of cyber.

This design project included industry partners and cadets from USAFA with input from airmen and government civilians at a variety of visited AF units and guest visitors to the design studio in Colorado Springs. The design team reached out to individuals from five Air Force bases:

• Lackland AFB
• Peterson AFB
• Schriever AFB
• Scott AFB
• Langley AFB

Results of the field research led the design team to broaden the areas of concern beyond just the organizational structure. These were refined during the project to three overarching topics or themes:

• Command and Control Structural Reframing
• Patching
• Decentralized Execution

C2 Structural Reframing & Further Decentralized Execution: Reworked framework of the command would allow for airmen in communication squadrons and cyber squadrons to have a single line of command, eliminating conflicts of interest to improve operations.

Cyber Quick Reaction Force (Cyber QRF): A CQRF would remain at the top of the C2, owned day-to-day by AFCYBER and positioned to address immediate and pertinent issues.

Non-Kinetic Effects Officer (NKEO): NKEOs would help the cyber career field reorient or transform from a services-oriented communications career field at multiple levels to a defensive- and offensive-cyber and mission-assurance-oriented career field.

Patching & Decentralized Execution: This process seeks to find the cuts in the Air Force using “patches” that fortify and cover the network and weapon systems vulnerability to prevent intrusions and ensure security in all Air Force operations.