Pentagon calls cybersecurity, digital networks a war weapon

Washington: The Pentagon declared cybersecurity and digital networks as central to modern warfare, telling lawmakers that its “digital backbone” is now a “weapon system” critical to how US forces fight, decide, and win future conflicts.

At a Senate Armed Services cyber subcommittee hearing, Department of Defence Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies said the US military is undertaking a sweeping overhaul of its enterprise IT and cybersecurity systems to gain an operational edge.

“Our focus is to enable data supremacy and decision dominance on the contested battlefields of today and tomorrow at the speed and scale our warfighters deserve,” Davies said.

Chairman Mike Rounds underscored the urgency, warning that outdated systems and slow processes were now a strategic risk. He said the ability to “orient, decide and act more quickly than the enemy will likely decide the outcome of the next major war”.

Davies outlined a four-pillar transformation strategy aimed at modernising networks, accelerating software delivery, strengthening cybersecurity, and building a skilled workforce.

Under the first pillar, she said the Pentagon is upgrading its core infrastructure, including undersea cables, fibre networks and satellite communications, while expanding 5G use and modernising data centres. “This foundation supports every warfighting system and our global installations,” she said.

The second pillar focuses on shifting away from legacy software systems. Davies said the department is “shifting from slow legacy software development to modern agile delivery” and working to standardise data architectures to speed up decision-making.

On cybersecurity, she said the Pentagon is moving away from “checklist driven compliance” to a more dynamic, risk-based model with continuous monitoring and automation. “We will drive risk reduction rather than burdensome paperwork,” she said.

Lt Gen Paul Stanton, who heads the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Department of Defence Cyber Defence Command, said the network itself must function as a warfighting system.

“We must get the right data to the right place at the right time, such that our commanders make better and faster decisions than our enemies,” he said.

Stanton said the military is already operating under real-world stress conditions. “We are at war and we’re executing Operation Epic Fury currently,” he said, describing how teams monitor networks in real time, reroute traffic and rapidly deploy new solutions when systems are disrupted.

He stressed that redundancy is built into the system to ensure resilience. “We’re never single threaded on any capability as we enter into the fight,” he said, noting that the Pentagon relies on a mix of terrestrial, undersea and satellite communications.

Lawmakers raised concerns about the Pentagon’s ageing infrastructure and growing technical debt. Rounds said years of underinvestment had created “a technical debt problem of historic proportions” that adversaries are exploiting.

Davies acknowledged the challenge, saying the overhaul aims to “reduce technical debt” and eliminate inefficiencies while accelerating modernisation.

The hearing also highlighted tensions over supply chain risks and artificial intelligence. Senator Jack Reed pressed the department over its decision to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk and order its removal from DoW systems within 180 days.

Davies said the matter is under litigation and declined to provide details in open session, but confirmed the system remains in use during the transition period. She said the Pentagon has designed its data architecture to work with multiple AI systems to maintain flexibility.

Lawmakers also pushed for reforms in software approval processes and cloud computing. Davies said the department is working to streamline its “authority to operate” framework and expand its Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability into a more integrated marketplace to improve visibility and security.

For the Pentagon, the shift reflects a broader change in how wars are fought. Military leaders increasingly view networks, data and software as decisive tools that link sensors, commanders and weapons across the battlefield.

Officials warned that delays in modernisation could hand an advantage to adversaries who are already exploiting vulnerabilities in US systems.

IANS