The White House released a massive $5.8 trillion budget for the 2023 fiscal year on Monday. The spending proposal calls for the Pentagon to receive $11.2 billion for cyber operations, and $11 billion will be distributed to the rest of America’s domestic government agencies for various cyber projects.
Under the spending plan, the Pentagon will expand its Cyber Command’s Cyber Mission Force (CMF). Five new teams will be added to the CMF, bringing the total to 142. According to a Department of Defense fact sheet, part of the team’s mission is to carry out offensive cyber operations “intended to project power in and through cyberspace through the employment of cyberspace capabilities.”
Outlined in the DoD budget is funding to invest in “cyber training ranges” and more than one billion for the Navy’s cybersecurity. The Pentagon also said the budget will cover “increasing cybersecurity support to the Defense Industrial Base.”
Overall, the $11.2 billion for the military’s cyber warfare is an 8%, or $1.4 billion, increase over the 2022 budget. Navy Vice Adm. Ronald Alan Boxall, the director for force structure, said, “this budget lays the foundation for [U.S. Cyber Command] to have ownership of the mission and cyber mission force.”
On the civilian side, the Department of Homeland Security will receive $2.5 billion for its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In November 2020, Gareth Porter raised questions about CISA’s integrity. Porter explains that CISA only accused Russia of interference in the 2020 election after it appeared President Donald Trump’s campaign was faltering.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is scheduled to get $1.8 billion in funding for its Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program. The administration’s spending proposal will also dole out $550 million to the Department of Energy and $215 million to the Treasury.
