Cyber Command reshuffles force expansion due to Navy readiness woes

The U.S. military has rearranged a years-long effort to expand the “action arm” of its top cyber forces, according to multiple sources, as leaders try to balance fighting advanced foreign threats like China with maintaining basic readiness.

Poor readiness specifically within the Navy’s digital personnel has prompted U.S. Cyber Command to alter what is likely a multibillion-dollar push to grow its main warfighting corps, known as the Cyber Mission Force (CMF), by 14 teams.

The four new teams the Navy was tasked to provide as part of the expansion will focus on training the service’s existing cyber operators first, not acting as additional cyber warriors as originally intended, according to multiple military, civilian and congressional sources with direct knowledge of the process.

Long considered a problem child among the military branches for not fulfilling its personnel requirements to Cyber Command, the Navy examined its existing 40 CMF teams in 2022, not long after the expansion plan was put into motion.