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Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, suggested in a hearing that the Defense Department has not made the security of the cyber domain enough of a priority. “Out of five officially recognized warfighting domains, the senior civilian official for the air, sea, land, and space domains are military service secretaries,” Langevin said, then noting in contrast that “the senior civilian for cyber is four rungs lower than her counterparts overseeing other domains.” He further asked Mieke Eoyang (deputy assistant for cyber policy) and General Paul Nakasone (head of Cyber Command) why information operations and cyberspace operations are overseen by two different officials.

With President Biden’s first budget request due soon, committee Ranking Member Mike Gallagher (R-WI) said the budget “must focus on modernizing DoD’s platforms, we must consider cutting legacy platforms out of date for modern conflict and investing in emerging technologies in cyber.” Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) also said she’s hoping for a “truly transformational budget on cyber.”

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