Engendering Cyber-mindedness in the USAF Cyber Officer Corps

The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win...in air, space and cyberspace. The Air Force is the first military service in the Department of Defense to include the cyberspace operating domain as part of its mission. The Air Force has undergone notable changes to incorporate this new domain of operations, to include establishing a cyberspace numbered air force and creating a cyberspace career field. The Air Force converted all of its Communications and Information Officers into Cyberspace Operations Officers in April 2010. The Air Force, however, has not completed an in-depth analysis of what skills the officers in this new career field will need in order to face future cyberspace challenges. This new career field is an amalgamation of officers with different educational backgrounds and operational experiences. The essence of any organization is the culture among its members. An accepted definition of organizational culture is a shared set of beliefs among members of a group that establishes acceptable behavior by individuals within the group. When the Air Force recognized cyberspace as an independent operating domain it became important for the service to foster a cyber-minded culture. This research offers a better understanding of and recommendations for shaping a cohesive, operationally-oriented, and mature cyber-minded culture, which the Air Force desires for its new operating domain. To accomplish this goal, this research explores three context-specific cultural variables with regard to their influence on certain career fields in the Air Force's operating domains. Those variables are advocacy and mentorship, education and formal training, and divergence of career paths. Each of the variables plays a role in fostering cohesion, operational orientation, and maturity of domain-minded cultures. A study of the air- and space-minded cultures, with a careful focus on their maturation from their birth and early growth stages to organizational mi