The US Air Force has defended itself against evil accountants by designating six software tools as weapons so that they can compete for scarce dollars in the Pentagon budget.
Lieutenant General John Hyten, vice commander of Air Force Space Command, told Reuters that it was the only way he could make sure that cyber software gets more attention and the recognition that it deserves.
While everyone in the Pentegon admits that cyber weapons are the way forward, defence is being cut because the country is broke, and there is no-one really left to fight now that the Russians have taken their ball back.
Hyten said the Air Force is also working to better integrate cyber capabilities with other weapons. We guess he means developing a bomb you can send on email or a Facebook page which bores people to death but leaves buildings standing.
Hyten did not say what the six cyber tools were. We know for example that the United States and Israel developed the Stuxnet computer virus that was used to attack an Iranian uranium enrichment facility. He might have six similar projects on the boil.
Hyten said the Air Force waned to expand its cyber workforce of about 6,000 by 1,200 people, including 900 military personnel.
Hyten said the Air Force was trying to increase investment in cyber security already being made by private industry.
However there was still a lot of work to do to improve connections with the companies that operate the largest computer servers.
