Army Gen. Keith Alexander, US Cyber Command boss, gave the Defense Department a “C” grade on Wednesday when asked during a Congressional oversight hearing how he’d judge the Pentagon’s ability to protect its thousands of networks from attack. “We have made tremendous progress over the last two years in training the force and hardening the networks. I’d like to say an ‘A,’ but I think it will take us some time to get to an ‘A,'” Alexander told the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities panel. A top grade will happen only when the Pentagon can stop everyone from penetrating the networks, Alexander said. However, he acknowledged “we’ve already made it extremely hard for anyone to break through our network.” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said during the hearing it’s going to take “a lot more money” before the Pentagon will find itself on the dean’s list. “It’s the welfare of the people that’s at stake,” Johnson said.
The Air Force kicked off one of its biggest exercises this week with the latest edition of Bamboo Eagle, featuring combined virtual and live training scenarios focused on test the command-and-control “nervous system” leaders need to operate on a complex joint battlefield spread over vast distances.
