{"id":32231,"date":"2023-03-27T19:49:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T19:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/03\/27\/us-indo-pacific-command-seeks-extra-274-million-for-cyber\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:45:12","slug":"us-indo-pacific-command-seeks-extra-274-million-for-cyber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2023\/03\/27\/us-indo-pacific-command-seeks-extra-274-million-for-cyber\/","title":{"rendered":"US Indo-Pacific Command seeks extra $274 million for cyber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the oldest and the largest of the Pentagon\u2019s unified combatant commands, asked Congress for an additional $274 million to fund offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, as officials seek to fend off hackers and gird for potential conflict with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOffensive cyber access and effects\u201d projects, at $184 million, and \u201ccybersecurity and network defenses,\u201d at $90 million, are included in the command\u2019s hefty $3.5 billion unfunded priorities list, a copy of which Defense News reviewed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former supports \u201ccapabilities to access and effect cyberspace operations,\u201d it said. The latter would fund INDOPACOM attempts to harden networks and quickly identify intruders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combatant commands and military leaders annually send unfunded priorities lists, also called \u201cwish lists,\u201d to lawmakers, each offering different levels of detail, as required by law. They allow defense officials to note for Congress items that did not make it into the latest budget request from the White House but that would be useful should money be available<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INDOPACOM\u2019s ask comes as the U.S. looks to counter an increasingly influential and assertive China in both real and virtual worlds. The Biden administration\u2019s cybersecurity strategy, published this month, identifies Beijing as the \u201cbroadest, most active and most persistent threat to both government and private sector networks\u201d and China as the \u201conly country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The command\u2019s wish list, which also includes millions for missile warning and tracking, signals intelligence upgrades, foreign influence campaigns and more, highlights \u201cexactly the kinds of capabilities that will make People\u2019s Liberation Army planners and political leaders in Beijing think twice\u201d about acting belligerently, according to Bradley Bowman<\/a>, the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\t