Cyber Command Reviews Ordered by Gen. Joshua Rudd
Army Gen. Joshua Rudd, the newly-installed head of U.S. Cyber Command, has commissioned two studies to examine how the military's digital warfare arm might better modernize. One of the studies will be conducted by MITRE, a nonprofit research organization, and will potentially scrutinize Cyber Command's acquisition model.
The evaluation, the parameters of which are undefined, could also examine the so-called 'service like authorities' granted by Congress that allow Cyber Command to manage and equip personnel without being an independent military branch, according to a command official. The conclusions from MITRE are expected to be folded into Rudd's own 90-day review of the command, which is a common practice for newly appointed senior military leaders.
Background and Context
Rudd, who took the twin-leadership reins of Cyber Command and the NSA in March, spent most of his military career in special forces. He has convened a 'confederation' of senior leaders within Cyber Command who had some kind of experience in special operations to conduct an internal study and come up with 'quick wins' to implement, according to the official.
Current and former defense officials said the analyses are a sign that Rudd understands he has a limited amount of time to institute sweeping changes at the command and bring it more in line with President Donald Trump's belief that the U.S. must be more confrontational in cyberspace.
CYBERCOM 2.0 Strategy
The Pentagon hopes to overcome chronic challenges to fielding and retaining elite cyber warriors through a new force generation strategy dubbed 'CYBERCOM 2.0' that officials hope will boost the command's agility. A key pillar of the strategy is the creation of a Cyber Innovation Warfare Center that would resemble other rapid acquisitions offices.
MITRE's work would be 'complimentary' to the 2.0 blueprint, according to the official. Rudd testified last month about the importance of the initiative, which the president's budget requests $75 million for in fiscal year 2027. 'CYBERCOM 2.0 is moving at pace and achieving new milestones each month,' he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Reactions and Analysis
The command official and others described the timing of the reviews as unusual, given that previous Cyber Command chiefs, all of whom possessed considerably more military cyber experience than Rudd, arrived with a set of goals they wanted to accomplish before requesting outside help to gin up new ideas or search for efficiencies.
A former senior cyber official said ordering studies now is a 'decent idea' because Rudd 'has a bit of a limited background in the space. The more information and opinions he hears, the better.' The former official argued that the 'best thing he could do right now is to bring in a group of senior or retired 'grey beards' who actually worked in the space that can provide him insights into why things have been done a certain way, where he should focus his efforts, and pitfalls to avoid.'
- Cyber Command declined to comment.
- MITRE did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: The Record