This week Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates began the process of developing the military's first-ever headquarters to defend the United States' government networks against cyber threats.

Earlier this month, President Obama announced his intention to launch the first-ever cyber security arm to protect the nation's digital connections — a matter he felt the previous administration failed to prioritize.

Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who leads the National Security Agency, has been nominated by Gates to lead the new department, dubbed Cybercom. The unit's objective will be to coordinate the day-to-day operation and protection of military and Pentagon computer networks, specifically, according to The New York Times.

But as the Administration ramps up efforts to better protect online networks, questions have risen about whether user privacy, sovereignty and diplomatic rules will be respected.

Following the Iran elections, for example, it was discovered that a member of the Obama administration asked microblogging site Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance so that Iranian Twitter users would have an ongoing live forum for dissent. The move was positioned by some as a way for the United States to manipulate political activity elsewhere without formally getting involved.

The NSA is also facing scrutiny over how much of American citizens' email it reads, supposedly in the interest of national security.

But in defense of the future actions of Cybercom, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman argued, "I can't reiterate enough that this is not about the militarization of cyber.

"This is an internal Department of Defense reorganization," he went on. "It is focused only on military networks to better consolidate and streamline Department of Defense capabilities into a single command."

Cybercom's head will report up the hierarchy of Strategic Command.