Pentagon Cyber Leaders Back $1.5 Trillion Budget Request

Senior U.S. Department of Defense officials backed the White House’s roughly $1.5 trillion budget request Tuesday, telling lawmakers that an overhaul of U.S. cyber forces and expanded digital warfare capabilities are central to the proposal’s increased funding levels.

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Katherine Sutton, the Pentagon’s top cyber policy official, told the House Armed Services cyber subcommittee the department confronts a “rapidly changing” threat environment in which nation-state actors are preparing for conflict rather than stealing data. “Our adversaries have moved beyond theft and are pre-positioning disruptive capabilities,” she said.

Army Gen. Joshua Rudd, who leads U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency told lawmakers the command has ramped up operations to meet a growing threat amid increased a quarter more than the prior year, and is on pace to exceed that rate again.

Both officials described the administration’s defense request as a necessary response to the evolving threat landscape, with cyber capabilities now serving as a foundational element of U.S. and foreign military modernization and deterrence strategies. The proposal includes $20.5 billion for cyberspace activities, funding efforts to defend military networks, disrupt adversaries and accelerate the Pentagon’s transition to a zero trust architecture.

The proposed budget – which sharply contrasts cyber cuts the White House proposed for 2027 across civilian branch cyber entities – also aims to expand protections of critical infrastructure and defense industrial base partners against cyberattacks. Lawmakers pressed the officials on whether current cyber investments are sufficient to counter China and Russia, both of which have significantly expanded offensive cyber capabilities in recent years.

Sutton said the fiscal 2027 request reflects a “substantial increase” in cyber funding across multiple mission areas, but emphasized that talent and efficiency will be just as critical as topline spending.

“We need the right balance of growing and training the workforce while also leveraging technology,” she said, pointing to artificial intelligence as a potential force multiplier that could offset workforce shortages.

Cyber Command in November announced a restructuring that will create clearer career paths, enable specialization and improve readiness across cyber mission teams.

Rudd said the effort, dubbed CyberCom 2.0, is already delivering results, with new training pipelines and closer coordination between Cyber Command and the military services. Advanced training responsibilities are increasingly centralized within Cyber Command to ensure consistency and operational alignment, he added.

The hearing also detailed how cyber operations are becoming more deeply integrated into traditional military missions, with Rudd telling lawmakers Cyber Command is actively supporting combatant commands and working alongside the NSA to provide real-time cyber effects in conflict scenarios. The Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget calls for cyber to become a core enabler across all warfighting domains.

The budget includes $58.5 billion for AI and joint command-and-control initiatives – many of which intersect with cyber operations – and billions more for autonomous systems and advanced technologies designed to enhance digital and information warfare capabilities. Officials said those investments are necessary as adversaries have increasingly combined cyber operations with kinetic and information warfare in recent years.

Lawmakers raised concerns about whether the Pentagon’s organizational structure has kept pace with changes across the cyber landscape, pointing to overlapping responsibilities for network defense across multiple offices. Sutton said the department is moving toward a more integrated approach, telling lawmakers the Pentagon needs to “focus less on silos” and more on “how we bring together what we’re understanding from our adversaries – from an operational perspective – with how we’re doing cybersecurity across the department.”

The hearing also detailed persistent challenges the Defense Department has faced in recruiting and retaining cyber talent, with lawmakers noting how private-sector tech salaries often outpace government compensation. Rudd said roughly 80% to 90% of the U.S. cyber mission workforce are uniformed personnel, though officials are exploring ways to expand civilian hiring and partnerships with industry and academia.