Pentagon releases ‘revised’ plan to boost cyber talent, ‘domain mastery’

U.S. Cyber Command members work in the Integrated Cyber Center, Joint Operations Center at Fort George G. Meade, Md., on April. 2, 2021. (Photo by Josef Cole/U.S. Cyber Command)

By Mark Pomerleau • Nov 10, 2025

The Defense Department has released a highly anticipated plan to attract and retain cyber talent by better integrating US Cyber Command with other military departments for recruitment and training, and establishing three new organizations to improve the military’s hacking and defensive prowess.

Announced late Thursday, the new effort is light on details, but “fundamentally changes the Department’s approach to generating cyber forces, enabling increased lethality in our cyber forces and establishing a warrior ethos built on domain mastery, specialized skills, and mission agility,” said Katie Sutton, assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, echoing the priorities of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The three “enabling” organizations will be a Cyber Talent Management Organization to “identify, attract, recruit, and retain an elite cyber force”; an Advanced Cyber Training and Education Center to “develop mission-specific training and education to build expertise and mastery”; and a Cyber Innovation Warfare Center to “accelerate the rapid development and delivery of operational cyber capabilities.”