Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. -- Hello and greetings from the 960th Network Operations Squadron at 6,187 feet in (mostly) sunny Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, Colo.
Last month, you read about our sister squadron, the 860th NOS. Our unit is the reserve associate unit to the 561st NOS, better known as the Integrated Network Operations Support Center, or “INOSC-W.”
We were activated March 1, 2013 when the 960th Cyberspace Operations Group stood up. In the last three years, the squadron has grown to more than 60 members, including one Air Reserve Technician, four Active Guard Reserve members, and a little more than 55 Traditional Reservists.
Like the 860th NOS, our squadron executes Defensive Cyberspace Operations and Department of Defense Information Network Operations through employment of the Cyber Security and Control System weapon system, to operate and defend the Air Force Information Network.
At $10 billion and more than 845,000 users, we are the largest of the seven cyber weapons systems. We operate the second largest Microsoft Active Directory in the world. Number one? The country of Germany, to give you an idea of our scope.
It has been said that CSCS is the foundation for all other cyber weapons systems. We believe that’s a narrow scope, and submit that CSCS is truly the foundation for all Air Force weapons systems. If the Air Tasking Order arrives where it is supposed to, when it is supposed to, and unaltered; and if the right bombs hit the right targets at the right time...that was CSCS in the background. If we execute our mission and employ our weapons system, you should never hear or see us.
This past year (2015) was a great year for us. We were able to put members on full-time orders in the 561st NOS so that several of their work centers had a 960th NOS members in them. In some cases, our reservists were actually leading the active duty work centers.
We supported three different combatant command exercises and sent members to CSCS units to support their specific taskings at the 690th Cyberspace Operations Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; the 691st Cyberspace Operations Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and the 299th Network Operations and Security Squadron of the Kansas Air National Guard at McConnell Air Force Base, Kans.
We had several award winners to include Master Sgt. Jon Phelps, one of our cyber warfare operators, who was name Air Force Reserve Command’s Cyber Warfare Non-commissioned Officer of the Year. As a squadron, the 960th NOS won the AFRC Information Dominance Small Unit award.
This coming year brings more opportunity to fully integrate with the 561st NOS and execute DCO/DODIN missions with mission-ready Airmen. We continue to increase the number of members that are fully qualified to execute cyber sorties and continue to work with the 624th Operations Center to refine our force presentation.