Cyber Command official is Trump’s choice for Pentagon policy job
President Donald Trump has selected a cyber policy veteran to serve as the Pentagon’s next top digital security official.
A notice posted on Monday shows that the president has nominated Katherine Sutton, who currently serves as chief technology adviser to the commander and director of Pentagon Operations at U.S. Cyber Command, to be assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy.
She previously served in a number of roles for the Senate Armed Services Committee, including as the GOP staff leader for the cybersecurity subcommittee under Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).
Sutton would only be the second Senate-confirmed person to helm the office. Ashley Manning, who was the organization's principal deputy, has filled the role in an acting capacity since the change in administration. Michael Sulmeyer held the job during Joe Biden’s presidency.
The post was created in the fiscal 2023 defense policy bill following years of congressional irritation that the Defense Department lacked a civilian leader who is accountable for digital security policy.
The nomination comes as Cyber Command moves forward with its long-awaited modernization plan, dubbed “Cyber Command 2.0.”
During the public portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide threats hearing on Tuesday, Cyber Command and NSA chief Gen. Timothy Haugh said the military outfit had submitted the revamp’s implementation scheme to the Pentagon — after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shrunk the timeframe for its delivery.
Hegseth “told us to go faster. We've delivered him that plan, and now, based off of his guidance, we will now begin to move forward with the rest of the department.” according to Haugh.
In addition to Sutton, it was reported last week that Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army colonel who ran for Congress in North Carolina last year as a Republican, had been tapped to serve as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for cyber policy.
That position does not require Senate confirmation.
Martin Matishak
is the senior cybersecurity reporter for The Record. Prior to joining Recorded Future News in 2021, he spent more than five years at Politico, where he covered digital and national security developments across Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He previously was a reporter at The Hill, National Journal Group and Inside Washington Publishers.