In an Oct. 16 memorandum, Mullen calls on the Strategic Studies Group to give him a "high-level blueprint that encompasses your longer-term view, as well as a roadmap that includes immediately actionable steps -- operational, process, and technological -- that our Navy may take to begin developing the capabilities" needed to master the cyberspace warfare domain in the next 25 years.

The one-page document is addressed to the group's director, retired Adm. James Hogg, and is titled "Strategic Studies Group XXVI Theme -- 'Fighting in Cyberspace in 2030.'"

The Strategic Studies Group, located at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, "generates revolutionary naval warfare concepts" that appear to have potential, but are not being pursued by other Navy organizations, according to the group's Web site.

The group "is tasked only by and reports directly to the CNO," it adds.

Each year, the study team focuses on an issue of special interest to the chief of naval operations, according to a Naval War College Web site.

Mullen opens the memo by calling cyberspace a "new dimension to warfare" that is not only a "seamless blend of sensors, networks, and advanced information technologies, [but] it is also different in principles and concepts."

The group is charged with first understanding the relationships between cyberspace and "traditional maritime domains" like warfare and naval competition.

In the memo, the four-star asks the group to consider a range of questions:

* "What will warfare be like in cyberspace?

* "How do we provide the joint task force commander an intuitive understanding of this domain?

* "How will the 1,000 Ship Navy go to cyberspace?

* "How would we respond if our potential adversaries create a virtual 1,000 Ship Navy?"

Navy leaders have touted the 1,000 Ship Navy concept as a global network of maritime nations.

In August, Mullen described the 1,000 Ship Navy as a "fleet-in-being, if you will -- comprised of all freedom-loving nations, standing watch over the seas, standing watch over each other."

Although few details are available on what such a global network would look like and how it would be developed, Navy officials envision partnering U.S. naval forces with a diverse array of multinational, federal, state, local and private-sector entities to ensure freedom of navigation, the flow of commerce, and the protection of ocean resources.

As it develops new concepts on how to operate in cyberspace, the Strategic Studies Group will be focusing on the 2030 time frame, according to Mullen's memo.

"Put as much effort into what we do not know as you do in what we know," Mullen writes.

In addition, the admiral also lists various factors the group should consider to help build a host of capabilities for facing cyberspace threats.

First, the four-star calls on the group to "examine [a] blurring of strategy, operations, and tactics," and to think about how the service will organize, train, and equip a future force to prevail in cyberspace and traditional warfare domains.

Further, he charges the group to focus on how "command, control, and collaboration" may need to evolve to satisfy the service's needs in cyberspace.

The group will also need to consider "scale, tempo, and other aspects of change," Mullen states.

"Be aggressive in identifying aspects of change that have been neglected or dismissed," he adds.

Lastly, the group should examine "Navy culture" to identify aspects that need to be "preserved" and "protected," as well as those that "interfere with our ability to see, recognize, and adapt to future challenges," Mullen writes.

The Navy is not the only service that is attempting to bolster its capabilities to operate in cyberspace.

Earlier this month, the Air Force established its first-ever "Operational Cyberspace Command."

The creation of the new organization is intended to combat the ever-growing Internet prowess of rival nations and terrorist groups like al Qaeda, sister publication Inside the Air Force reported Nov. 3.

"The idea of freedom of cyberspace may, in time, be the same kind of principle as freedom of the seas and freedom of the skies," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said during a Nov. 2 conference in Arlington, VA. "This means that cyberspace is a domain in which many rely, and in which warfighting can and by some definitions already takes place."

Last week, Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley approved a strategic plan for the service's cyberspace command, ITAF reported Nov. 17.