WASHINGTON — A possible new uniformed service focused solely on cyberspace operations would require an initial budget of at least $10 billion, according to a new report.
There has been a growing chorus in recent years calling for an independent cyber force to remedy readiness shortfalls with the underlying cyber personnel in the military and inconsistencies across each of those services. Currently, each of the military services — all with their own personnel polices, troop rotations, and pay scales — are responsible for providing personnel for a set number of teams to US Cyber Command, which then employs those forces in operations for the other geographic combatant commands.
That report was published today by the Commission on US Cyber Force Generation — launched in September by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in partnership with the Cyber Solarium Commission 2.0 (CSC 2.0) project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The commission is made up of several recently retired two- and three-star cyber commanders, former top Pentagon cyber officials, and mid-level cyber personnel.
The report operates under the hypothetical situation where a directive for a Cyber Force has been given, and provides a roadmap for what it could look like. The goal, according to FDD senior fellow Mark Montgomery, is to avoid the mistakes made when standing up the Space Force in 2019.
