The Pentagon has for the first time detailed $30 million in spending on Air Force cyberattack operations and significant new Army funding and staff needs for exploiting opponent computers.
Since 2011, top military brass have acknowledged the United States has the capability to hack back if threatened by adversaries in cyberspace. Now, the Defense Department is providing lawmakers and taxpayers with evidence of network assault programs to sustain funding, budget analysts say/.../
Some military spending analysts wonder whether the services are wasting money by duplicating hacking investments.
"Do we really want each service going off and developing their own capabilities for these threats?" questioned Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "How much redundancy are we building across the services in the areas of cyber? What is unique to the Army?”
It could be more economical for a single component to manage all cyberattack spending, he added.
"Maybe it's time to give Cyber Command more budget authority," Harrison said.