The Pentagon is pushing for a cyber "tiger team" to help the military arm itself for cyberwar – but Congress is more interested in how to respond to foreign interference in the nation's political structure, Defense One reported.
The competing interests were in full view Thursday when the Senate's Armed Services Committee held a hearing with members of the Defense Science Board – a group of civilian experts who advise the Department of Defense on technical matters, the outlet reported.
"If an enemy or an adversary is capable of changing the outcome of an election, that's a blow at the fundamentals of that country's ability to govern," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, per Defense One.
"The election is a system of democracy . . . if you destroy it, then you have basically dealt an incredible blow to the country, which is far more severe than shutting down an electrical grid."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., then asked: "Describe the range of options the U.S. has for deterrence?"
According to Defense One, Jim Miller, a member of the Defense Science Board and a former under secretary of defense for policy, responded "one thing we want to do is deny the benefits" of that sort of operation.
"Getting that information out earlier would have been very helpful," he said, per Defense One.
The hearing came as the board presented a new report on cyber deterrence.
A proposed "offensive cyber capability tiger team" would "develop options and recommendations for improved and accelerated acquisition of scalable offensive cyber capabilities, including additional authorities to USCYBERCOM, and the establishment of a small elite rapid/special acquisition organization," the report stated.
Also at the hearing, retired Gen. Keith Alexander, former head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, said, despite recent efforts to clarify roles and responsibilities in government and the private sector in response to a cyber attack, the U.S. still lacks both a strategy and a system to test and refine a strategy, FCW.com reported.
Alexander said the Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement agencies, the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense need to be brought together under one framework.
"Before we do that, I would highly recommend that we get those four groups together and practice," he said. "We haven't done that, so what you have is people acting independently, and with those seams, we will never defend this country."
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