Washington: “Cyber Command 2.0” marks the most significant transformation of US Cyber Command in 15 years, the Pentagon leadership has old Senators as officials sought Congressional backing for a sweeping overhaul of cyber training, recruiting, and force management to counter China, Russia, and Iran.
At a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Senator Jacky Rosen warned that cyber threats are accelerating while US Defence planning lags behind.
She noted that the new National Defence Strategy “only mentions cyber in three places”, saying that “cyber is everywhere” and deserves far greater urgency.
Rosen said adversaries are “probing and testing and challenging our systems” constantly, seeking to “degrade our command control, disrupt our operations, steal our most sensitive information”, and exploit artificial intelligence to scale attacks.
“We can’t defend against these disturbing yet real threats without cyber professionals every step along the way,” she added.
US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Cyber Policy, Katherine Sutton, said ‘Cyber Command 2.0’ is a “fundamental reimagining of how we build and manage our cyber forces”, designed to overcome years of inconsistent training, uncompetitive compensation, and rigid personnel models.
“At its core,” Sutton said, the plan rests on three pillars: “domain mastery”, “specialisation”, and “agility”.
“As a result, the Pentagon is shifting away from a compliance-based approach toward career-long cyber expertise, creating dedicated pathways for specialists and enabling faster adaptation to emerging threats,” she told the lawmakers.
“There are seven core attributes of the new model, including targeted recruiting, standardised incentive pay and retention bonuses, tailored training through an Advanced Cyber Training and Education Centre, redesigned career pathways, specialised mission teams, integrated headquarters support, and optimised unit phasing to reduce burnout,” she told.
General William Hartman, a senior Cyber Command leader, told US Senators the revised force generation model is “fundamental to a more lethal, agile and enduring cyber force”.
He said longstanding challenges include “duplicative training”, “uncompetitive and inconsistent compensation”, heavy administrative burdens, and a high operational tempo that strains personnel.
Hartman said “Cyber Command 2.0” addresses those issues by modernising recruiting, incentives and training, while accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence.
“Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept. It is an operational capability we are integrating today,” he added.
He said that AI is already being used to speed cyber threat detection, automate defensive actions and reduce analyst workloads so human expertise can focus on high-value decisions.
Hartman added that the command is aggressively leveraging commercial AI technologies while building classified capabilities when needed.
US Senators asked whether the military services would fully cooperate on talent management.
Sutton acknowledged past frustration but said “Cyber Command 2.0” carries clear direction from the Secretary of War and will require “hard — hard discussions internal to the building” to enforce consistent standards.
The hearing also touched on proposals for a separate cyber service.
Sutton said “Cyber Command 2.0” is a talent management model that is “agnostic to the organisational model” and would apply regardless of whether the current structure remains or a future cyber force is created.
Hartman said “Cyber Command 2.0” was developed with a 2027 timeline in mind and offers the fastest path to building the force the nation needs, while strengthening integration across all combatant commands.
(IANS)
