Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation Subcommittee, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on military operations in cyberspace and building cyber capabilities across the Department of Defense.
Rep. Gallagher’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
The subcommittee will come to order. This is my final hearing as the Chairman of this subcommittee, and before we get underway, I want to thank the members of the subcommittee, and especially my partner, Ranking Member Khanna. I appreciate the collaborative spirit in which we’ve advanced the innovation and cyber agenda through the 118th Congress.
Today, we are meeting to hear from the Department on its budget request and plan for cyberspace operations for the coming fiscal year. From 2013 to 2023, Congress tried to address force design and readiness through 24 different pieces of legislation, civilian and military workforce issues via 45 separate provisions of law, and cybersecurity of the Defense Industrial Base in 42 provisions of law.
Through this latest NDAA, we incorporated new requirements, reports, and mandates into each of those same categories. And yet, here we are: there are still significant issues with our force design, our civilian and military workforce issues remain as challenging as they have the past ten years, and several cyber incidents targeting the defense industrial base have demonstrated that we’re as vulnerable now as we were a decade ago.
Just as I said when we met a year ago for this same cyber posture hearing, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different outcomes.”
I believe that almost everyone here today is familiar with a report published just two weeks ago by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies on the issue of a Cyber Force, a proposed new branch of the Armed Forces dedicated to the cyber domain. This new force would be responsible for organizing, training, and equipping for the cyber domain, no different from the Navy for combat at sea or the Air Force as the service responsible for air warfare.
The report’s cogent arguments were not the only elements which stood out. Included in the report were personal accounts provided anonymously by more than 75 active and recently separated service members representing every military branch and rank from E-7 to O-7, as well as senior civilians. Not a single individual that was approached declined to respond, nor did any one of them argue in favor of the current approach, in which the operational force is sourced from four separate military services. I ask for unanimous general consent to enter this report into the record.
I will admit, I was skeptical at first; but over the last 18 months, I have been presented with an astounding array of data and rational arguments in favor of a Cyber Force, as well as a number of convincing arguments opposing such a force. In my mind, the most logical way to address this question is a fully independent evaluation of a notional Cyber Force, to be led by an entity other than the Department of Defense.
If anyone is opposed to a study of this question, I believe there is only one way to interpret that opposition— if you’re unwilling to ask the question, what you’re really saying is that you’re scared of the answer you might receive, and the actions we will have to take to address the problem. When it comes to national security, that way of thinking—acceptance of risk because of fear—is unacceptable.
While I may not be chair of this subcommittee during this year’s NDAA mark-up, I hope my colleagues will make the right decision and work collectively to ensure the Department of Defense is directed to conduct such a study when the time comes.
With that as context, I’m eager to hear from both of our witnesses, each appearing for their inaugural cyber posture hearing. We are joined by Ms. Ashley Manning, a career Senior Executive performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, and General Tim Haugh, the Commander of United States Cyber Command.
Apr 10, 2024
Press Release