Cyber National Mission Force to get new commander amid broader leadership turnover

U.S. Cyber Command’s elite Cyber National Mission Force will get a new commander on Friday, completing a leadership overhaul atop the military’s digital warfighting organization.

Brig. Gen. Matthew Lennox, a senior leader at Army Cyber Command, will take over for Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock, who had led the force since 2024. She is set to assume the No. 2 role at Cyber Command and pin on her third star.

A CNMF spokesperson confirmed a change of command ceremony is scheduled for Friday at Fort Meade, Maryland.

The transition marks one of the final key leadership roles to be turned over since last April when President Donald Trump abruptly fired the head of Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, igniting a chain reaction among the senior ranks at both entities.

The uncertainty persisted for months as the administration went on to drop two picks for the “dual-hat” role of Cyber Command chief and NSA director — including Army Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who has led both organizations in an acting capacity — before selecting Lt. Gen Joshua Rudd, the deputy head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

The Senate this week voted to confirm Rudd, despite opposition to his nomination over his lack of cybersecurity and intelligence bonafides. He will be promoted to a four-star general and he is expected to take up the post soon.

Last month lawmakers confirmed Mahlock by voice vote to be the command’s new deputy chief. It is unclear when she will assume her new position.

Lennox, who will receive his second star, ensures that someone with cyber chops takes the reins of the CNMF.

He is currently deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber Army, which is responsible for providing cyberspace support to Central Command, Africa Command and Northern Command.

He was in the chain-of-command last year for Operation Midnight Hammer, where Cyber Command disrupted Iranian air defenses to better protect U.S. aircraft as they hit multiple nuclear sites. 

He also likely had some input into the command’s role in the last conflict with Iran that saw cyber operators knock out Iran’s communications.

Lennox previously served as the CNMF’s deputy commander for operations.

The CNMF, first activated in 2014 and composed of 39 joint cyber teams with over 2,000 military and civilian personnel, is at the forefront of Cyber Command’s offensive and defensive operations and has grown so integral to its mission that in 2022 the Pentagon approved it to become a permanent part of the command.

It is composed of what are considered to be the Pentagon’s most talented digital operators, organized into task forces with specific missions or against specific threat actors, such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.