Lawmakers from Maryland are supporting efforts to make Cyber Command a unified combatant command, in hopes that it will bring more jobs and “prestige” to their state, the Baltimore Sun reported. The measure is included in the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved by the House on May 18. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) announced his support for the provision that day, saying demand for cyber warfare will continue to increase. Elevating the command “recognizes the fact that cyberspace is the battlefield of the 21st Century,” Ruppersberger said. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is working on adding the move into legislation on the Senate side, while Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said that the US is “fighting a cyber war every hour of every day,” and elevating Cyber Command would give cyber warriors “more of the tools they need” in that fight, according to the Sun report. Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently told Congress that Cyber Command was conducting its first combat operation against ISIS.
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…