The private sector has confronted and solved the majority of major cyber attacks, but government and defense still view themselves as the lead defensive entity, said Jason Healey, cyber statecraft director with the Atlantic Council. The Department of Homeland Security’s cyber response plan puts the “government at the center of the Web,” but the government has only ever led the response to attacks where it is the target, said Healey Thursday at AFA’s CyberFutures Conference in National Harbor, Md. “That’s about it. . . . Look at almost every other conflict where we’ve been on the defensive [and] it’s been the private sector that’s fixed it,” he noted. “If we’re going to make progress, . . . we have to treat the private sector as the supported command, not as the supporting command,” said Healey.
Watchdog Says Military Can Make Cyber Ops More Efficient
Sept. 17, 2025
The Government Accountability Office called for paring down the military's sprawling cyber enterprise in a recent report, amid renewed discussion about standing up a separate cyber force.
