"Cyber warfare has become a new mission set for us," Col. Kevin "Stoney" Stonerook told reporters, summing up a recent expansion of responsibilities for US Northern Command's task force charged with Golden Dome homeland air and missile defense.
Col. Kevin "Stoney" Stonerook on JTF‑Gold's cyber role
Stonerook, deputy commander of Joint Task Force‑Gold (JTF‑Gold), told attendees at the Association of the US Army conference that the task force is "helping put together the team of teams" — vendors, other government agencies and military stakeholders — to deliver a cyber warfare capability for Golden Dome for America (GDA). He clarified in later remarks to Breaking Defense that those cyber activities are focused on defensive measures to protect Golden Dome capabilities from adversary attack, not on offensive cyber operations.
Origins and structure of JTF‑Gold
JTF‑Gold was announced by US Northern Command in January with limited public detail. The announcement named the head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) — a position held since April by Lt. Gen. John Rafferty — as double‑hatted to lead the task force and co‑located JTF‑Gold with SMDC at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Stonerook said the task force was created "out of the ashes" of US Space Command's former Joint Force Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, adopting a mission to operationalize Golden Dome for USNORTHCOM.
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See what we buildOperational tasks: siting, construction and asset management
Stonerook said JTF‑Gold now numbers about 100 personnel and has already taken on practical work supporting GDA. One of its first missions was involvement in siting and construction activities for Golden Dome's first operational site at Fort Story, Virginia, and JTF‑Gold will carry out similar support at future sites. The task force also has responsibilities for asset management, although Stonerook acknowledged that "the clear delineation of which assets are included and not included has not been completed."
Coordination challenges and planning sprints
Transferring functions from Space Command to NORTHCOM has left unresolved questions about how to split responsibilities that the Space Command component once managed "across the missile defense system." To address those questions, JTF‑Gold held a major planning sprint in February that brought "over 300 people" to Colorado Springs to form a "team of teams" and develop concepts of operations. Stonerook framed the process as a series of practical planning efforts to answer "who was doing what across the entirety of the GDA stakeholder community."
A second planning sprint is scheduled for the end of the month to focus on the respective responsibilities of the three "major" Golden Dome operations centers at Peterson, Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Stonerook said the agenda will include drawing lines for roles and necessary redundancy, assessing whether the organizations are resourced to meet those roles, and determining what additional capabilities are required.
What this means for technologists, policymakers and operators
- Technologists and security teams: JTF‑Gold's stated defensive cyber remit creates a clear demand for integration among vendors, government cyber teams and operational units as the task force works to "provide a cyber warfare capability for GDA."
- Policymakers and senior leaders: The transfer of responsibilities from Space Command to NORTHCOM, and the double‑hatted leadership arrangement with SMDC, will require policy and command decisions to clarify asset inclusion and lines of authority.
- Operational commanders and site planners: JTF‑Gold is already engaged in site selection and construction at Fort Story and will apply those lessons as it builds out future GDA locations and defines the roles of the three operations centers.
JTF‑Gold's work so far is concrete — personnel on the order of 100, a first operational site at Fort Story, a February planning sprint with more than 300 participants — but the task force itself acknowledges unfinished business: defining which assets it will manage, where redundancy is necessary, and how the three major operations centers will divide responsibilities. The next planning sprint, at the end of the month, is the named milestone where many of those questions are due to be tackled.
