The cyber war against ISIL

Bill Gertz:

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“The objectives there are to interrupt ISIL command and control, interrupt its ability to move money around, interrupt its ability to tyrannize and control population, interrupt its ability to recruit externally,” Carter said. “All of that it does in a cyber-enabled way.”

“The overall effect we’re trying to achieve is virtual isolation,” Dunford said. “And this complements very much our physical actions on the ground, and the particular focus is external operations that might be conducted by ISIL.”

Carter explained that the U.S. and allied bombing campaign is being supplemented with the cyber attacks in Syria and Iraq. “And my feeling about that was and is very direct: We’re bombing them, and we’re going to take out their Internet as well.”

“In the modern world, that’s necessary to defeat an enemy, and we’ve got to use every tool that we have,” he said.

Both Pentagon leaders did not provide details of the operations that were launched in January and which remain secret.

In Baghdad, Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, deputy commander for operations and Intelligence for the military operations against ISIS, known as Combined Joint Task Force—Operation Inherent Resolve said Tuesday that cyber operations are beginning to produce “effects on the battlespace” but he said “those are cloaked in the highest of secrecy.”

“I can tell you it’s highly coordinated. It has been very effective and Daesh will be definitely in the crosshairs as we bring that capability to bear against them,” he said.

The general explained that the coordination process involves first planning “the desired effect we want to yield on that target.”
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There is more.

One of the reasons they are having to rely on a cyber war against ISIL is that the President will not allow more direct and effective means of destroying the enemy.  He is limiting the use of force to basically a limited raiding strategy and the cyber war is a way of supplementing that raiding strategy.

The cyber effort will continue to be an important aspect of combined arms operations, but it si being handicapped in effectiveness by Obama's limits on the use of force.  This has allowed ISIL to continue operations and project its own raiding strategy against the West with mass murder attacks.