On September 26, it was announced by Defense Minister Bill Blair and General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, that the Canadian Armed Forces Cyber Command (CAF CYBERCOM) will be established. The new command’s mandate is to conduct cyber operations, cyber force sustainment, management, and development. CYBERCOM will be led by Major General Dave Yarker, who was appointed in 2022 as the Director General Information Management Operations and Joint Force Cyber Component Commander.
When CYBERCOM becomes operational, Canada will be the tenth nation to have a cyber-based command in its military structure and not in a defense department or ministry, after Israel (2003), Iran (2006), Japan (2008), the United States (2010), Norway (2012), China (2015), Germany (2017), Estonia (2018), and Singapore (2022). Its establishment was elaborated upon in the Our North, Strong and Free policy paper released by the Department of National Defense (DND) this year, stemming from commitments to establish a command that can: A) face cyber-based national security threats; and B) enable greater operability with Canada’s key allies in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Five Eyes alliance, and NATO. With the rise of cyber operations in the Ukraine war, it is imperative that CYBERCOM is fully staffed and trained to be ready and meet offensive cyber operations targeting the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian interests.
The establishment of CYBERCOM would allow the CAF to further collaborate on cyber operations with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). Even prior to the creation of CYBERCOM, the CSE worked with the CAF on specialized capabilities to provide intelligence in military operations, and this extended to cybersecurity and offensive/defensive cyber operations. The Our North, Strong and Free policy paper touched down on the possible creation of a joint cyber operations capability. However, whether this comes to pass depends on organizational and budgetary issues at the CAF, as one major issue that the CAF will need to rectify is bolstering manpower and instituting adequate training to perform the necessary cyber ops.
With the ongoing and systemic issue of personnel shortages across the Canadian Armed Forces, it will be a challenge for CYBERCOM to recruit and retain specialized staff for cyber operations. As of 2023, the CAF is facing a shortage of 16,000 soldiers. It currently employs 100,000 soldiers, with 71,500 regular force soldiers and 28,500 reserve soldiers. Despite reforms to recruitment processes that allow Canadian permanent residents to enlist in the CAF, manpower has yet to increase. While 70,080 applications were filed in fiscal year 2023-2024, only 4,301 were recruited.
There is clearly a need for Ottawa to do more to meet the staffing requirements of the CAF, including budgeting for greater compensation and benefits with work-life balance for its soldiers. Philippe Lagassé and Justin Massie point out several issues that are harming CAF recruitment, including a lack of civilian opportunities that do not force those in service to take on unnecessary sacrifices and the high-profile cases of sexual misconduct that tarnish the CAF’s reputation and work culture. A House of Commons Report of the Standing Committee on National Defence filed on June 2022 recommended (among other options) to make CAF salaries competitive with the private sector and to take concrete steps to reduce delays in the recruitment process, even if it means easing eligibility requirements. The Our North, Strong and Free policy paper, for example, highlighted the idea of a probationary period where recruits can be streamlined.
These issues are not unknown to the Canadian authorities, as an internal review carried out by the DND revealed a shortage of personnel and cyber specialist training, which were attributed to the abovementioned recruitment challenges and security clearance checks that were taking too long. Some 84% of CAF personnel interviewed during the review said that “there are not enough cyber operators to conduct cyber defense activities.” The CAF is now trying to rectify the situation and deepen its talent pool by collaborating with private sector educational institutions; for example, Willis College, which is offering a cyber security program as continuing education for CAF and DND personnel.
CYBERCOM’s establishment as a cyber operations-based command in the CAF was long overdue, as cyber-attacks have now become the norm, whether conducted by hostile states or non-state actors. However, CYBERCOM faces many of the same staffing challenges as the wider CAF, along with some new ones given the specialized nature of the job description, and these staffing challenges defy any easy answer, often requiring increases in Canadian defense spending. Thus, while CYBERCOM is a necessary step in the right direction, it may be some time before Canada’s cyber command realizes its true potential.
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