Inaugural Pentagon cyber policy chief nominee sails through Armed Services Committee

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday advanced President Joe Biden’s pick to serve as the Pentagon’s first-ever cyber policy chief.

The panel approved Michael Sulmeyer, the Army’s top digital adviser, by voice vote to be the inaugural assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy.

Recorded Future News first reported last year that Sulmeyer was in contention for the post. It was created by lawmakers to better focus the Defense Department’s attention on cybersecurity by having a single civilian official responsible for it.

Sulmeyer’s nomination, which was formally announced in March, now goes to the Senate floor for a vote.

Sulmeyer — who previously served in roles at the National Security Council, U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency — sailed through his confirmation hearing earlier this month.

“Many of the pressing challenges that confront the United States today have a nexus to cyber policy, from China's brazen efforts to target our critical infrastructure to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, we see our adversaries using cyber operations to threaten our security,” he told lawmakers, adding that advances in artificial intelligence “could dramatically expand” America’s digital advantages and weaknesses.

Sulmeyer said that his top priority would be building “combat power” and “sustained readiness” within the country’s digital forces, as such shortfalls have plagued U.S. Cyber Command and its “action arm,” the Cyber Mission Force.

He said the Pentagon must “recruit from a broad audience that has that propensity to serve, to put the interests of the team and the nation ahead of themselves and have that technical interest and aptitude.”

The department must also “retain them and to show them that there is a career and a pipeline to stay in federal service and national security,” Sulmeyer told the committee, later noting that retention is the “bigger challenge.”

He said that, if confirmed for the job, it would be a “big opportunity to harmonize how that combat power is generated” by the military services.

Sulmeyer also vowed to strengthen the department’s strategy of “Defend Forward,” meant to counter adversary behavior as close to the source as possible.

The full Senate could confirm Sulmeyer by the end of the week before lawmakers leave for August recess.