The Atlantic Council released a report on Wednesday outlining 10 recommendations to advance the development of a framework to operationalize the “sixth domain” or the “sphere of activities” of the private sector in warfare.
One of the recommendations in the report calls for the Department of Defense to further expand the use of commercial space capabilities, including the creation of contractual arrangements to ensure the availability of commercial space assets in the event of armed conflict.
According to the report, the U.S. Space Force is building up the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve program, which will work to support the military through “voluntary pre-negotiated contractual arrangements.”
Such arrangements would ensure that satellite communications, remote sensing and other services are provided during wartime.
The government and industry should establish a critical infrastructure wartime planning and operations council to help plan and coordinate activities between public and private sectors in support of national defense, the council suggested.
The report, authored by Franklin Kramer, a distinguished fellow and board director at the Atlantic Council, recommends that Congress and the White House work together to broaden the national framework and facilitate coordination between the federal government and the private sector during wartime.
Other recommendations in the document include establishing private-sector systemic risk analysis and response centers for critical infrastructure; creating an integrated corps of cybersecurity providers; expanding Cyber Command’s “Hunt Forward” model of operations; and establishing international undersea infrastructure protection corps to improve the resilience of undersea cables and pipelines.
