The Obama administration is preparing to elevate the stature of the Pentagon's Cyber Command, signaling more emphasis on developing tools to deter attacks, punish intruders into U.S. networks and tackle adversaries such as the Islamic State group, current and former officials told Reuters.
Under the plan, the officials said, U.S. Cyber Command would become what the military calls a "unified command" equal to combat branches such as the Central and Pacific commands.
Cyber Command would be separated from the National Security Agency, a spy agency responsible for electronic eavesdropping. That would give Cyber Command leaders a larger voice in arguing for the use of both offensive and defensive tools in future conflicts.