A Cyber Force budget would require at least $10 billion, new commission report says

U.S. Cyber Command members work in the Integrated Cyber Center (U.S. Cyber Command photo by Josef Cole)

By Mark Pomerleau • Jun 04, 2026

A possible new uniformed service focused solely on cyberspace operations would require an initial budget of at least $10 billion, according to a new report.

There has been a growing chorus in recent years calling for an independent cyber force to remedy readiness shortfalls with the underlying cyber personnel in the military and inconsistencies across each of those services. Currently, each of the military services — all with their own personnel polices, troop rotations, and pay scales — are responsible for providing personnel for a set number of teams to US Cyber Command, which then employs those forces in operations for the other geographic combatant commands.

That report has now been published by the Commission on US Cyber Force Generation — launched in September by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in partnership with the Cyber Solarium Commission 2.0 (CSC 2.0) project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The commission is made up of several recently retired two- and three-star cyber commanders, former top Pentagon cyber officials, and mid-level cyber personnel.