Outgoing First Navy Cyber Adviser Suggests Longer Term for Successor

The Department of the Navy’s first principal cyber adviser, Chris Cleary, told DefenseScoop that his successor needs a longer term for more continuity in overseeing change, particularly on the civilian side of the service. 

Cleary’s three-year PCA tenure, which expires on Nov. 27, follows the 2020 Congress defense policy measure mandating the role’s creation to establish various cyber capabilities at each service. 

According to Cleary, he will leave the role proudly having created the Navy’s Cyberspace Superiority Vision, which emphasizes technology as a warfighting function extending beyond cybersecurity, DefenseScoop reported.

The vision, released in October 2022, defines the three pillars by which the Navy will gain cyberspace superiority: secure, survive and strike.

Cleary pointed out that the Navy now recognizes that attention to technology infrastructure is needed just as much as the focus on ships, planes and submarines. He predicted that the service will pour more resources into technology in the coming years.

The outgoing Navy cyber adviser added that his work elevated operational technology within the department, extending into the Pentagon E-ring, comprising the offices of the most senior Department of Defense officials.