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The Command was planned to stand beside the Space and Air Combat Commands within the Air Force, to protect the internet against malicious attackers from outside of the country.

As well as defending US interests online, the Command could possibly develop the power to go on the offensive. Some US Air Force personnel have suggested that a US-owned botnet could be useful in military skirmishes with other governments, conducting denial-of-service

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attacks on the enemy.

"Transfers of manpower and resources, including activation and reassignment of units, shall be halted," according to an internal US Air Force email published in part by NextGov.

Military action online by warring governments is not a new phenomenon, although it is difficult to gauge the true extent to which it occurs.

Security researchers claimed earlier this week that Russian hackers had been targeting Georgian websites as part of a joint online and traditional military attack.

As well as this, US and UK security services have warned that there is a real security threat from foreign governments online. The chief of MI5 warned UK companies last year of the threat of industrial espionage from China, claiming that firms such as Rolls Royce had been targeted by hackers.