The Senate Armed Services Committee officially announced membership for its subcommittees Monday, including a new Subcommittee on Cybersecurity. The subcommittee will be chaired by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who said it “will be tasked with oversight and legislation for policies and programs relating to the Defense Department’s cyber forces and capabilities,” in a statement release by his office. Rounds said the time for such a subcommittee is right. “As recent events have shown, the US is not immune to a cyber attack from hostile foreign actors,” Rounds said, referring to US intelligence reports that Russia conducted cyber operations in an attempt to influence the 2016 US presidential election. The ranking member on the subcommitte is Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). In a statement, Nelson said the subcommittee must take deterrence of cyber attacks seriously. “You can’t just sit on your hands and do nothing,” he said. “If we’re going to deter our enemies from attacking us, we have to make it painfully obvious that the consequences are going to be so severe that they won’t want to do it in the first place.”
Congress Passes $839 Billion Budget for Defense
Feb. 3, 2026
Congress officially passed the fiscal 2026 defense spending bill Feb. 3 after a House of Representatives vote, approving $839 billion in Pentagon funding and sending the package to President Donald Trump for his signature.
