CYBER/EW(2): The Cyberspace & Electromagnetic Warfare Operations SMARTbook, 2nd Ed. (Creating Effects in Cyberspace and the EMS) is the new second edition of our Cyber SMARTbook. All new for 2026, topics include strategic environment (intro, information advantage, OE, threats and hazards), cyberspace operations (offensive/defensive), electromagnetic warfare (EW) operations, joint electromagnetic spectrum operations (JEMSO), cyberspace electromagnetic activities (CEMA), converging effects in combined arms ops, cyber/EW operations planning & integration, cybersecurity, and incident response.

Download a free PDF sample and learn more at: https://www.thelightningpress.com/bookstore/book/cyber-ew2-cyberspace-electromagnetic-warfare-operations-smartbook-2nd-ed/

Chap 1: Strategic Environment

Cyberspace crosses geographic and geopolitical boundaries and is deeply integrated with critical infrastructure, commerce, governance, and national defense activities. It connects all operational domains and includes military and civilian networks, communications systems, computers, cellular systems, social media, and technical infrastructure that underpin modern society and military operations. Because cyberspace is congested, contested, and critical to successful operations, it is a decisive factor in contemporary conflict.

Multidomain operations combine joint and Army capabilities to create and exploit relative advantages across all domains to achieve objectives, defeat enemy forces, and consolidate gains on behalf of joint force commanders. Cyberspace and electromagnetic warfare (EW) operations support these efforts by creating temporary opportunities of relative advantage in the air, land, maritime, space, cyberspace domains, and across the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling freedom of action for maneuver forces.

Chap 2: Cyberspace Operations

Cyberspace operations (CO) employ cyberspace capabilities to achieve objectives in or through cyberspace. CO include military, intelligence, and business activities conducted by the Department of Defense, though this publication focuses on the military component guided by joint doctrine and operational requirements. Combatant commanders and Services use CO to create effects in support of military objectives through coordinated cyberspace missions and actions that contribute to achieving a commander’s operational and tactical objectives. These actions are integrated into broader joint operations across all domains.

Chap 3: Electromagnetic Warfare (EW)

Electromagnetic warfare (EW) involves military action using electromagnetic energy and directed energy to control the electromagnetic spectrum or attack the enemy. EW consists of three divisions: electromagnetic attack, electromagnetic protection, and electromagnetic support, which together enable forces to gain and maintain advantage across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Chap 4: Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (JEMSO)

Joint electromagnetic spectrum operations (JEMSO) are coordinated military actions by the joint force to exploit, attack, protect, and manage the electromagnetic operational environment. JEMSO integrates, synchronizes, prioritizes, and deconflicts operations within the electromagnetic spectrum to enhance unity of effort, achieve electromagnetic spectrum superiority, and support joint force commander objectives across the joint force. The result is a more coherent scheme of maneuver in the electromagnetic environment.

Chap 5: Cyberspace Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA)

Each Service has a unique approach to electromagnetic spectrum operations; the Army’s approach is cyberspace electromagnetic activities (CEMA), which integrate and synchronize cyberspace and EW operations as part of combined arms operations. By achieving positions of relative advantage in cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum, commanders can limit enemy courses of action, disrupt command and control, reduce enemy momentum, degrade sensors and communications, and affect effectiveness across multiple operational domains.

Chap 6: Converging Effects

Corps-level forces converge effects across all domains using fires, maneuver, cyberspace, and EW capabilities supported by joint and multinational partners. These capabilities include both lethal and nonlethal attack systems. Cyberspace and EW effects can disrupt enemy communications, sensors, radars, navigation systems, and electromagnetic countermeasures, creating windows of opportunity for friendly forces to apply combat power at decisive points and present multiple dilemmas the enemy cannot overcome in a coordinated manner.

Chap 7: Planning & Integration

Planning is a continuous component of the operations process that includes planning, preparation, execution, and assessment. Commanders use intelligence preparation of the operational environment (IPOE) and the military decision-making process (MDMP) to understand operational conditions, visualize the operational environment, and develop courses of action. They also make decisions, direct forces, and assess operations throughout execution. During MDMP, cyberspace and EW officers maintain running estimates and integrate cyberspace and electromagnetic warfare considerations into unit plans and orders. This ensures that effects in cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum are synchronized with maneuver, fires, and intelligence activities across all phases of operations.

Chap 8: Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity ensures the confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, and nonrepudiation of friendly information systems while denying adversaries access to those same systems. Cyberspace defense protects Department of Defense information networks by detecting, characterizing, countering, and mitigating unauthorized activity and vulnerabilities. Effective cybersecurity requires protecting systems and data, detecting intrusions in real time, limiting damage, and restoring affected networks and systems to full operational capability.

Chap 9: Incident Response

Cyber incident response includes the processes and technologies used to detect, respond to, and recover from malicious cyberspace activity or security breaches. Its primary purpose is to minimize mission disruption, reduce operational and financial impact, and restore systems to secure and fully operational status. Peer adversaries integrate malicious cyber activity, electromagnetic attack, military deception, information warfare, and lethal fires to deny U.S. and allied forces access to cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum in a contested environment. Soldiers and leaders use established procedures to prevent, identify, recognize, and respond rapidly to these threats in order to maintain operational continuity.

This article is an extract from "CYBER/EW(2): The Cyberspace & Electromagnetic Warfare Operations SMARTbook, 2nd Ed. (Creating Effects in Cyberspace and the EMS)" by The Lightning Press. Download a free PDF sample and learn more at:  CYBER/EW(2): The Cyberspace & Electromagnetic Warfare Operations SMARTbook, 2nd Ed. (Creating Effects in Cyberspace and the EMS).

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