Congress Is Considering New Service Branch: The Cyber Force

Few would argue that the US does not face a cyber threat challenge. Government institutions, infrastructure, intelligence organizations, US military facilities, and nearly every facet of the US society are under constant cyberattacks by our adversaries. Yet, as a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report reveals, there is no single organization addressing the problem. It’s not that there aren’t US government agencies working to counter the cyber threat; there’s just no single entity focused entirely on defending against, and, if necessary, taking the offense to fight back. Cue the Cyber Force … maybe.

Cyber Force – Coming Soon?

It has been seven years since President Donald Trump established the US Space Force to deal with a host of extraterrestrial threats and to address the military uses of space. Now there is a conversation in Congress, and at one prominent DC-based think tank, regarding the creation of a new military service branch to address the numerous cyber threats America faces. On Wednesday, June 3, CSIS published a study that discusses how a Cyber Force would be implemented. The analysis assumes that the US has fallen behind in cyberwarfare. The reasons for standing up a Cyber Force are not debated in the study, as the report acknowledges: “The fact that the current approach is failing to keep pace with the threat is generally accepted. In February 2025, a former CYBERCOM [US Cyber Command] commander, General Paul Nakasone, acknowledged the United States had fallen behind its adversaries in cyberspace.” 

CYBERCOM evolved in 2010, in the Department of Defense (DoD). “After discovering additional foreign cyber espionage campaigns targeting the department, DoD in 2010 combined existing cyber elements to establish CYBERCOM under U.S. Strategic Command,” according to a Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), 2024 Monograph. This study also concluded that the current organizational structure is not as effective as it needs to be to address the present cyber threat environment. “The inefficient division of labor between the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps prevents the generation of a cyber force ready to carry out its mission,” the FDD study concluded. 

The CSIS Commission explained that, among the existing War Department’s 11 unified combatant commands, CYBERCOM lacks a single source for training, organizing, and equipping its force. As the Commission analysis explains, “Instead, responsibilities are split across the five existing services, together with some ‘service-like’ authorities that CYBERCOM retains. The cyber domain is thus the only domain of warfare that lacks a dedicated organizational unit for force generation.” The consequence is that no existing military service, Army, Navy, Air Force, or Guardians, is obliged to give the cyberspace domain primacy over its current train, organize, and equip responsibilities. This is particularly true when advocating for budgetary requirements. Newsbreak explained: “There’s reportedly consensus across the Defense Department that the military’s existing cyber forces are insufficient to deter, compete, fight, and win in the cyber domain.”

The Cyber Space Domain Is Unique

Additionally, creating a unique military service for cyber space operations recognizes that because of the distinctive requirements of other services like the Air Force and Space Force, “So, too, is cyberspace a distinct operational domain with unique force generation requirements, and consequently, as its own service, the Cyber Force can optimize organizing, training, and equipping for that domain,” CSIS observed. During congressional budget authorization deliberations, the need for a Cyber Force received the attention of one member of the Senate Armed Services Committee in preparing the FY2027 authorization bill. According to Defense One: 

“Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is spearheading a markup amendment to the Senate’s 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would create a ‘Cyber Force’ as the next armed service branch. The senator’s office confirmed that the amendment proposes to establish the branch under the Army, just as the Space Force and Marine Corps sit under the Air Force and Navy. Similar provisions are reportedly being floated in the House, according to two people familiar with policy discussions.”

Having Cyber Force as an Army branch would establish the domain’s importance, as recommended by the CSIS report. Its main advantage is that it “would allow the Cyber Force to fit within the existing DOD bureaucracy, which could then be leveraged for speed and efficiency.” However, Cyber Force would compete with Big Army priorities. Despite this, it would access the Army’s budget, procurement, recruitment, and logistics capabilities. CSIS estimates manning needs: 20,000 active-duty soldiers, 3,500–5,000 National Guard, and 6,000 civilians. Initial costs range from $10–$11 billion.

It’s very likely that Gillibrand’s amendment will make it through the authorization process. The threat of cyber-attacks is not diminishing and by no means trivial. The lives of Americans and US national security are at risk daily. Having a dedicated military service to address the threat seems like a good idea. 

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