Senate confirms first DOD cyber policy chief

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Michael Sulmeyer as the Defense Department’s first cyber policy chief.

Sulmeyer will serve as the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of Defense for cyber policy, a post that was created by congressional lawmakers in the fiscal year 2023 defense policy bill following years of frustrations on Capitol Hill that DOD lacked a senior civilian leader who is accountable for its digital plans and activities. The policy shop opened earlier this year with an acting chief.

Sulmeyer’s confirmation comes just two days after the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced President Joe Biden’s choice for the position.

Sulmeyer most recently served as the principal cyber advisor for the U.S. Army. He previously served in a number of senior posts, including director for plans and operations for cyber policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

He also acted as a special assistant to the president and the National Security Council’s senior director of cyber policy and senior adviser to recently retired U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency chief Paul Nakasone.

Outside of government, Sulmeyer was the leader of the Cybersecurity Project at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who introduced Sulmeyer at his confirmation hearing last month, said that when lawmakers created the assistant secretary post “it was done with the intention that the role would be filled with competent experts” like Sulmeyer.

“He is eminently qualified for this crucial position, which has remained vacant for far too long,” according to Rounds, the top Republican on the committee’s cyber subpanel, adding he was confident Sulmeyer’s “character, competence and experience will make him the right person to address the cyber threats and challenges our country will face in the future.”

For his part, Sulmeyer told the committee that his top priority would be building “combat power” and “sustained readiness” within the country’s digital forces. 

Years of readiness shortfalls have bedeviled Cyber Command and led some policymakers to conclude that establishing a separate, cyber-focused service is the best way to defend the nation against cyberattacks from foreign adversaries.