A large, well-resourced military cyber command, capable of defending and deterring online attacks against the State, should be urgently establishment, the Commission on the Defence Forces is to recommend to the Government this week.
As The Irish Times reports, the “Information Command”, which would number up to 300 personnel, would be part of the Defence Forces and under the command of a general.
It would rely heavily on civilian staff as well as reservists. Under the proposals, the command would play a frontline role in both detecting and deterring cyberattacks, countering misinformation and protecting the integrity of Irish elections from online interference.
The establishment of an Information Command is one of the headline recommendations contained in the final report of the commission which is expected to go to the Government this week.
The commission was established by Minister for Defence Simon Coveney in 2019 in response to concerns about the capabilities of the military and an ongoing retention crisis.
A draft version of the report currently in circulation contains recommendations for a comprehensive overhaul of the Defence Forces command and control structures, the creation of a new role of chief of defence and establishment of a joint strategic headquarters.
Budget increase
It laid out various options for increasing Defence Forces capabilities, including the possibility of increasing its current €1 billion budget by 300 per cent, allowing for the purchase of jet aircraft and additional naval vessels.
Sources warned that while many of these top-level recommendations will remain in the final report, some of the details have been altered since the first draft.
The initial draft of the report was subject to sharp criticism last year by the Defence Forces, which felt it was lacking in ambition.
Military sources said they believed the recommendation for a dedicated information command would be accepted by the Government in light of the cyberattack on the Health Service Executive last year which crippled the country’s health systems.
The proposed command would not be part of the Army, Naval Service or Air Corps but instead would be a joint command comprising personnel from all three branches.
It would form part of a whole-of-government approach to cyber defence and comprise soldiers from the Army’s existing Communications and Information Services (CIS) Corps and civilian experts.
