White House Seeking $11.2B Budget for Pentagon’s Cyber Efforts in Fiscal 2023

The Biden administration is requesting from Congress an $11.8 billion budget to pay for the Department of Defense’s various cyber efforts planned for the fiscal year 2023. The figure being sought for next year is $800 million more than the budget approved in FY 2022 and $1.4 billion larger than the FY 2021 allocation, Defense News reported Tuesday.

The Pentagon previously unveiled plans to harden networks, shield critical infrastructure and expand forces under the U.S. Cyber Command’s authority. To advance its goals in cyberspace, the DOD said it is investing in cyber training ranges and will add five more teams to the Cyber Mission Force.

Since its foundation in 2012, USCYBERCOM has grown to become the DOD’s “action arm” for all its cybersecurity operations. The DOD earlier said that it needed an additional 14 more teams for USCYBERCOM but is settling for only five.

It was also reported that at least $1 billion of the funding currently being sought will be spent on the Navy’s cybersecurity initiatives. The requested cybersecurity budgets for other service branches of the military have yet to be released.

The bigger cybersecurity allocation being sought for the DOD comes amid increased threats arising from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. In a March 21 statement, the White House warned about the potential for Russia to engage in malicious cyber activity against American critical infrastructure and businesses in response to U.S. economic sanctions. The U.S. administration added that “there is now evolving intelligence that Russia may be exploring options for potential cyberattacks.”