US Indo-Pacific Command seeks extra $274 million for cyber

WASHINGTON — U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the oldest and the largest of the Pentagon’s unified combatant commands, asked Congress for an additional $274 million to fund offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, as officials seek to fend off hackers and gird for potential conflict with China.

“Offensive cyber access and effects” projects, at $184 million, and “cybersecurity and network defenses,” at $90 million, are included in the command’s hefty $3.5 billion unfunded priorities list, a copy of which Defense News reviewed .

The former supports “capabilities to access and effect cyberspace operations,” it said. The latter would fund INDOPACOM attempts to harden networks and quickly identify intruders.

Combatant commands and military leaders annually send unfunded priorities lists, also called “wish lists,” to lawmakers, each offering different levels of detail, as required by law. They allow defense officials to note for Congress items that did not make it into the latest budget request from the White House but that would be useful should money be available .

INDOPACOM’s ask comes as the U.S. looks to counter an increasingly influential and assertive China in both real and virtual worlds. The Biden administration’s cybersecurity strategy, published this month, identifies Beijing as the “broadest, most active and most persistent threat to both government and private sector networks” and China as the “only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so.”

The command’s wish list, which also includes millions for missile warning and tracking, signals intelligence upgrades, foreign influence campaigns and more, highlights “exactly the kinds of capabilities that will make People’s Liberation Army planners and political leaders in Beijing think twice” about acting belligerently, according to Bradley Bowman , the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank.

“When you just quickly look at the list: Guam defense system, cybersecurity, network defenses, missile warning and tracking, space sensors, undersea targeting, resilient warfighting architecture, joint fires networks, maritime strike capabilities, and the list goes on and on,” he told C4ISRNET. “These aren’t exactly new golf courses in Hawaii, right? This is not a bigger house for the general.”

Hackers backed by China siphon intellectual property to boost technological development and meddle in foreign affairs by peddling disinformation, among other digital misbehavior. Chinese-sponsored cyberattacks breached a Navy contractor’s computers , jeopardizing sensitive information tied to secret work on an anti-ship missile, Defense News reported in 2018.

The Defense Department’s desired cyber spending has steadily increased in recent years. The department this month requested $13.5 billion, a 20.5% increase compared to the Biden administration’s previous ask of $11.2 billion. That same pitch is up from $10.4 billion in FY22, $9.8 billion in FY21 and $9.6 billion in FY20.

Trustworthy networks underpin much of what the military does, making cybersecurity paramount. And as the U.S. prepares to fight larger-scale wars with tech-savvy opponents, the pipes through which information flow need to be thickly insulated, according to defense officials and analysts.

“The kill chain is essentially what? It’s detect, decide, deliver,” said Bowman, a former Black Hawk pilot. “The side that can go through that kill chain, detect, decide, deliver, the fastest is the side that’s going to win the engagement and maybe win the conflict. So what strings all that together? Well, that’s strung together by networks, command and control, artificial intelligence, with a cyber protection or cyber activity layered over all of it.”

Defense News reporter Bryant Harris contributed to this article.

Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.

华盛顿——美国印太司令部是五角大楼历史最悠久、规模最大的联合作战司令部，该司令部向国会申请追加 2.74 亿美元，用于资助进攻性和防御性网络能力，官员们希望借此抵御黑客攻击，并为可能与中国发生的冲突做好准备。

该司令部高达 35 亿美元的未拨款优先事项清单中包括“进攻性网络访问和影响”项目（1.84 亿美元）和“网络安全和网络防御”（9000 万美元），《防务新闻》审阅了该清单的副本。

声明称，前者支持“访问和实施网络空间行动的能力”，后者将为印太司令部加强网络安全和快速识别入侵者提供资金。

各作战司令部和军事领导人每年都会向国会提交未获拨款的优先事项清单，也称为“愿望清单”，每份清单的详细程度各不相同，这是法律规定的。这些清单允许国防官员向国会说明那些未被纳入白宫最新预算申请但若资金到位将非常有用的项目。

印太司令部提出这一要求之际，美国正寻求应对在现实世界和虚拟世界中日益增强的影响力和咄咄逼人的中国。拜登政府本月发布的网络安全战略指出，北京是“对政府和私营部门网络构成最广泛、最活跃和最持久威胁的国家”，而中国是“唯一一个既有意图重塑国际秩序，又日益拥有实现这一目标的经济、外交、军事和技术实力的国家”。

据智库“保卫民主基金会”下属军事与政治力量中心高级主任布拉德利·鲍曼称，该指挥部的愿望清单还包括数百万美元用于导弹预警和跟踪、信号情报升级、对外影响力活动等等，这凸显了“正是那些会让北京的解放军规划者和政治领导人三思而后行”的能力，以免他们采取好战行动。

“你只要快速浏览一下清单：关岛防御系统、网络安全、网络防御、导弹预警和跟踪、太空传感器、水下目标定位、弹性作战架构、联合火力网络、海上打击能力，等等​​等等，”他告诉C4ISRNET。“这些可不是夏威夷新建的高尔夫球场，对吧？这也不是给将军弄个更大的房子。”

受中国支持的黑客窃取知识产权以推动技术发展，并通过散布虚假信息等手段干预他国事务，此外还从事其他网络不法行为。据《防务新闻》2018年报道，中国支持的网络攻击入侵了一家海军承包商的计算机系统，危及与反舰导弹秘密研发相关的敏感信息。

近年来，美国国防部希望获得的网络安全支出稳步增长。本月，国防部申请的预算为135亿美元，比拜登政府此前提出的112亿美元增加了20.5%。这一预算申请值也高于2022财年的104亿美元、2021财年的98亿美元和2020财年的96亿美元。

值得信赖的网络是军队诸多行动的基础，因此网络安全至关重要。国防官员和分析人士指出，随着美国准备与精通技术的对手展开更大规模的战争，信息流动的管道需要严密保护。

“杀伤链本质上是什么？就是探测、决策、打击，”前黑鹰直升机飞行员鲍曼说道。“能够最快完成杀伤链——探测、决策、打击——的一方，就能赢得交战，甚至赢得整场冲突。那么，是什么把所有这些环节串联起来呢？答案是网络、指挥控制系统、人工智能，以及覆盖其上的网络防护或网络活动。”

本文由《国防新闻》记者布莱恩特·哈里斯撰写。

科林·德马雷斯特曾是C4ISRNET的记者，负责报道军事网络、网络安全和信息技术方面的新闻。此前，他曾为南卡罗来纳州的一家日报报道美国能源部及其下属的国家核安全管理局，主要关注冷战后的清理工作和核武器研发。科林还是一位屡获殊荣的摄影师。