The Defense Department could release its anticipated cyber strategy as early as next week, according to Defense One, which cited three people familiar with the plan. One source predicted a Tuesday release, while two others cautioned that the timing could change. The sources spoke anonymously about the pending announcement.
The framework has been developed for months by the office of Katie Sutton, the assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy and principal cyber adviser to the secretary. It would be the Pentagon’s first overarching cyber strategy since 2023 and is expected to be accompanied by an action plan. Officials had initially said the strategy would be completed during the summer.
Sutton outlined three priorities to lawmakers in April: integrating cyber capabilities across every domain of warfare, gaining an advantage over adversaries, and reorganizing the military’s cyber forces to improve their skill and agility. The strategy is expected to turn those priorities into a framework for using digital operations as part of broader military campaigns.
That integration could place cyber tools capable of disrupting an adversary’s communications or computer systems in routine operational planning alongside airstrikes and other conventional activities. Officials have cited recent Trump-era operations in Venezuela and Iran as examples of the approach, the report said. The emerging framework is also expected to emphasize giving combatant commanders more cyber options that can be combined with conventional military power.
The strategy is expected to translate the White House’s March cyber strategy into military priorities and investments. That administration document called for using the government’s offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, disrupting threats before they reach U.S. networks, and imposing greater consequences on foreign hackers. The Pentagon’s 2023 strategy already adopted a “defend forward” posture, which calls for confronting malicious cyber activity closer to its source.
Artificial intelligence is expected to be a major part of the new framework. Sutton said in June that it would establish a specific vision for enabling AI across the cyber force, with coordination among U.S. Cyber Command, the Pentagon’s chief information office, and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. The Pentagon and National Security Agency have been expanding access to commercial AI models that can identify vulnerabilities and automate parts of cyber operations. NSA Deputy Director Tim Kosiba has said the agency wants access to a broad range of models and is discussing the issue with leading developers.
The strategy is closely linked to Cyber Command 2.0, an overhaul of how the military recruits, trains, and employs cyber personnel. The effort emphasizes greater specialization and purpose-built teams, as well as a Cyber Innovation Warfare Center designed to bring commercial technology to operators for testing. A Parsons job posting cited in the report says the strategy’s action plan includes about nine strategic initiatives and 34 lines of effort, although it does not describe those initiatives or establish when the posting was made.
The pending release comes as U.S. officials address multiple cyber threats and modernization demands. An apparently extensive Iran-linked campaign has sought access to water systems and other critical infrastructure in the United States, while the Defense Department has begun an accelerated migration to quantum-resistant encryption aimed at protecting its highest-impact systems by 2030. The administration also moved last month to allow vetted U.S. companies to conduct government-approved operations against foreign cybercriminal groups, raising questions about how the Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security departments will divide responsibilities. The strategy’s publication date remains subject to change.