Pentagon to lift status of cyber command

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Cyber Command is set to be lifted to a unified combatant command (UCC) Friday, a move to further boost the U.S. military's capacity to launch cyber warfare, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The Pentagon chose to anoint the new UCC, the 10th in the U.S. armed forces, to "deter, and if necessary, respond, to hostile acts in cyberspace," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.

The effort underscored the Pentagon's bid to achieve dominance in the cyber domain, which it said will be a major battleground for "the next century of warfare," White said.

Lt. General Paul Nakasone will take charge of the new UCC, gaining his fourth star in the meantime. In his confirmation hearing in March, Nakasone pledged to evaluate the personnel structure in the command and possibly shift its offensive and defensive balance.

The U.S. Cyber Command, established in 2009, is comprised of the Army Cyber Command, Navy Cyber Command, Air Force Cyber Command and Marine Corps Cyber Command. It reportedly has 133 teams that conduct offensive, defensive, intelligence and analytic work for global cyber operations as of 2013.

Nakasone, who previously served as the head of the Army Cyber Command, said in his hearing the army has begun assembling 21 more defensive teams. Enditem