The Air Force is moving ahead on establishing its new Cyber Command, searching for permanent facilities and planning meetings to establish rules by which it will operate, according to Air Force officials.

In September, the Air Force announced it would establish a Cyber Command to prepare for fighting wars in cyberspace by defending national computer networks running critical operations and to attack adversaries computer networks.

The Air Force now operates a Provisional Cyberspace Command at Barksdale Air Force Base in northwest Louisiana. Its vice commander, Col. Anthony Buntyn, said the provisional command is solely involved with "standing up the permanent command," meaning it is developing a structure, finding a location for the base and hiring and training staff. Buntyn spoke this week at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's annual Air Force IT Day in Vienna, Va.

Next week, Air Force officials, mostly with the rank of major and colonel, will meet at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., to begin laying out the rules that the command will follow during a possible cyberwar. Called the Cyber Space Warfare Doctrine, the rules will include defining what constitutes an act of cyberwar as opposed to what is merely a cybercrime or act of cyberterrorism.