Page 174 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

The elements of that taxonomy are Cyberspace IT, Cybersecurity, Cyberspace Effects, Intelligence
(Cyberspace), Cyberspace Enablers, Software Engineering, Data/AI.

Both CJADC2 and 8140 have a “total” concept – the former expands and unifies full-spectrum operations
while the latter expands and unifies the expertise that makes that possible. This is a significant step in
formalizing a broader and more dynamic view of the cyber workforce that extends beyond information
assurance and cybersecurity.

It’s instructive to look at some key examples of how cyber workforce elements mesh with each other to
enable CJADC2 functions:

• Cyber as a warfighting function: The inclusion of the Cyberspace Effects element in the
framework is the explicit acknowledgement of cyber as a defensive and offensive weapon, where
operators not only protect and preserve communication networks, information systems, and digital
enclaves, but also execute force projection activities as directed. The Intelligence (Cyberspace)
element is a DCO/OCO enabler, as planners and analysts rely on the integration of sensing and
cyber, especially at the tactical edge and in highly contested environments.
• The resourcing matrix: Integration of command and control does not only mean integration of
systems and networks, where Cyberspace IT plays a foundational engineering implementation
and sustainment role, but also stakeholder integration at the executive leadership level, where
Cyber Enablers (capability sponsors, portfolio managers, legal advisors), align acquisition and
development strategies and adopt novel approaches to tackle the hard problems posed by
disjointed data architectures and perceived policy barriers, leveraging the best that agile
commercial innovation and open standard models (MOSA/SOSA) have to offer.
• Purposeful data curation for information advantage resides at the center of the Data/AI
interplay to prevent Garbage In/Garbage Out effect, fine tune LLMs to mission sets, and enable
reuse and interoperability and making disparate data flows “make sense” to the Intelligence
(Cyberspace) elements (both producers and consumers) across all domains via AI-enabled
processes, which are in turn built upon Cyberspace IT and Software Engineering layers.
• Data accessibility: Software Engineering acts as the force multiplier that threads together
modules and segments across the E2E data logistic chains (as software-defined functions support
dynamic configurability in near real time); unleashes data fabric interoperability (e.g., APIs); and
enables bespoke data visualization (e.g., UI/UX). Embedded in Software Engineering is the
DevSecOps practice and its ability to quickly deliver mission relevant code to the warfighter fast
and frequently.
• Cybersecurity for the Data Logistics Chain: Since CJADC2 is founded on the concept of a
multi-network, multi-lateral, multi-contingent ecosystem, the Cybersecurity element will drive a
Zero Trust (ZT) design that intelligently reduces the threat footprint for critical systems and grants
network segment data access to only those entities identified as needing said access utilizing
policy enforcement points across the chain. That also requires not just the presence of a ZT-
trained Cybersecurity workforce but also significant active stakeholder involvement (going back
to our executive Cyber Enablers) in the development and prioritization of ZT-focused solutions
that do not create new stovepipes. Also critical for CJADC2, as a multi-classification architecture,

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 174
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