At last week’s Space Force’s Space Systems Command Cyber Expo 2025, Director for Cyber Warfare John Garstka warned in his keynote address that threats from cyber conflict remain significant and require greater preparation from the joint force.
Grastka, who works in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Platform and Weapon Portfolio Management, further suggested that cyberspace is the fifth warfighting domain after air, land, sea and space. Yet, he said that there is a failure to grasp the impact that a cyber conflict could have due to a lack of simulations for such attacks and the subsequent effect from one.
“What we have learned [from our wargaming] is that this is a significant threat that we have to prepare the joint force to deal with,” Garstka said in remarks delivered virtually from the Pentagon to the event that was held at
Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California.
Greater Infrastructure Required
In his remarks, Garstka said that for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to be better prepared will require a greater focus on the infrastructure necessary for supporting space systems missions.
“If you shut down the water or the power or the fuel, and you can’t provide a space system ground segment with power, then you [just] have a static display,” Garstka said.
“And so, it’s super important that when we think about cybersecurity for space systems … we factor in DOD installation-critical infrastructure, and we also factor in commercial-critical infrastructure when we have space systems dependent on that infrastructure,” he added.
Garstka further said that proper risk assessment remains an essential element of dealing with cyberthreats, and that such assessments must cover the entire life cycle of the system rather than just the operation and sustainment phases. He also noted that the defense industrial base (DIB) would be among the sectors that are most at risk of an attack from an adversary such as China.
“What’s important to point out is that cyberattacks can impact production lines; they can shut a production line down,” Garstka said.
He warned such an attack on the DIB could impact real-world DoD missions.
“We’re not talking about hypotheticals here,” Garskta explained. “If you’re dependent on the DIB for operations of your space systems, you have to treat protecting the DIB as important as protecting the space system, space segment or ground segment.”
DIB A Key Mission Partner With the DoD
To better prepare for this threat will require the U.S. military to view the DIB as “a key mission partner,” Garstka noted. At the same time, the Pentagon will need to provide industry with the requirements necessary to meet the designs of next-generation space systems.
Failure to do so could have the DIB fall victim to adversarial espionage campaigns in cyberspace.
“We’ve got to figure out how to close the cost equation to make that a reality,” he said, while stressing that there needs to be the motivation necessary to achieve the level of cybersecurity required. That is also despite financial challenges.
“The most important thing you can bring to the fight is motivation — the ability to identify the type of requirements that these space systems need to meet — and then you’ve got to be able to [fund them],” Garstka continued.
A Most Serious Threat
It is hoped that Garstka’s keynote address didn’t fall on deaf ears. Cybersecurity experts have long warned that America may be asleep when it comes to this issue.
“Cyber warfare is one of the most serious threats of our time,” Lawrence Pingree, vice president of cybersecurity provider Dispersive, told ClearanceJobs.
“We have strong beliefs that space systems should have the best security to avoid things like quantum threats and most resilient connectivity as possible to avoid various nation state threats and maintain the resilience and stability of space systems,” explained Pingree. “Integrated space systems, and integrated systems in general must be protected in total – defense in depth – in order to maintain stability. Downtime is not an option in space.”
This is where Garstka’s comments that cyber is the fifth warfighting domain need to be heeded.
“In war, almost anything becomes a target, and when a nation state has soft targets that can be hit without leaving their seats, that’s magical for those on the offense,” Pingree added. “It’s not one bit shocking that adversaries are heavily targeting non-defense sectors to send a message or to commit espionage, so being diligent is crucial.”
