And now: The rebuttal from Gen. Alexander!

Recent calls for an NSA-CyberCom divorce, championed by Foreign Affairs and former NSA Chief Michael Hayden, have irked NSA Chief General Keith Alexander himself. The National Interest just put out a brand-new op-ed which Gen. Alexander co-authored with Emily Goldman and Michael Warner. Being that Gen. Alexander is constrained in what he can say and therefore must be subtle, the entire piece reads at first like a policy statement mixed with a history of DoD's role in cyberspace and a few noteworthy historical analogies (he briefly touches on the oft-debated subject of whether cyber weapons represent a revolution in military affairs - RMA).

However, by the time one gets to Page 3 of the article, Gen. Alexander's true intentions in writing this op-ed become crystal clear:

"At the heart of our national-scale capability for defending the nation in cyberspace is the set of relationships for intelligence, analysis, and information security and assurance. The NSA makes that team work....Through these decisions, the department leveraged the similarities and overlaps between the capabilities needed for the conduct of the NSA's core missions-signals intelligence and information assurance-and those of USCYBERCOM: to provide for the defense and secure operation of Defense Department networks and, upon order by appropriate authority, to operate in cyberspace in defense of the nation... The evolution of USCYBERCOM has reinforced the imperative for a close and unique connection with the NSA...USCYBERCOM's defense of U.S. military networks depends on knowing what is happening in cyberspace, which in turn depends on intelligence produced by the NSA and other members of the intelligence community on adversary intentions and capabilities.

USCYBERCOM's planning and operations also rely on the NSA's cybercapabilities. No one entity in the United States manages or coordinates all this activity on a strategic scale. It requires cooperation across government agencies and with industry."

So, I guess it's official...we may be seeing the first shots fired in a debate about the future of CyberCom in which Gen. Alexander will represent one side and Gen. Hayden will represent the other side. The question now is how dedicated Gen. Alexander is to this debate and whether it will define the final six months of his tenure as NSA Chief.