Pentagon CIO calls for more offensive cyber capability
The status quo will no longer be accepted as the Trump administration moves to combat adversaries in the digital world, the Defense Department’s acting chief information officer said Thursday.
“We are at war in a non-kinetic sense … You have a president, what the message has been very clearly is the way we’ve been doing things isn’t working. It’s broken. This is your time. Come out of your shells. The art of the possible is before you now,” Katie Arrington said at the DOD Cyber Workforce Summit. “You have time to say this regulation, this policy, has been handcuffing you from doing what is needed and necessary to protect the United States … Our adversaries are not waiting for us to pass a new policy.”
Arrington — who was selected as the Pentagon’s chief information security officer, reprising that role from the first Trump administration, and is now serving as the acting DOD CIO — warned that not only have many Americans become complacent about cybersecurity, but adversaries know U.S. networks and will exploit them.
“Is our adversary going to turn the power off before they launch a kinetic attack? Yes. Where have we seen this time and time again? When are we going to learn? This is the time, folks. This is your moment to lean in, to take risks,” she said. “We have to do better. We have to start thinking like they do … Our adversaries know our architecture. Our adversaries know how we do business. Why? Because we’re a fully transparent government.”
More offensive capabilities are needed to combat these threats, she said.
Several Trump administration officials have articulated the need for more offensive capability in cyberspace to hit back against adversaries and deter undesirable behavior, namely Chinese activity that has targeted critical infrastructure and telecommunications firms.
Arrington said her role is to help alleviate policies that are hindering DOD personnel from countering foes.
“We’re fighting a war right now one-handed. My job, and the role that I’m in is [to] give you both your hands, because you need them. Policies are in place, and yes, we need to modify some. We need more offensive capability,” she said. “If a regulation or a policy is impeding you doing your job, say something. This is an opportunity to change this … but you need to communicate upward what the challenges are, because otherwise the status quo will remain. That is something that, to me, is simple. We have these things all over airports, ‘see something, say something.’ If there’s a policy or requirement, something that’s impeding you, let’s figure out how to get it out of the way to help you do [your] job, which is to defend the greatest country this planet has ever known.”
