Katie Sutton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the Pentagon’s top cyber policy official, told lawmakers on Tuesday that her priorities include strengthening the Department of Defense’s (DoD) cyber workforce and its offensive cyber capabilities.
If confirmed, Sutton would be only the second official to serve as the assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. The position was created formally in March 2024 as directed by the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
“I believe the key to success in the cyber domain is a combination of talent, technology, and agility,” Sutton said during her May 6 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“A lesson I learned throughout my professional career is that our talented civilians and uniformed service members that have the right training and tools are able to accomplish great things,” she added.
Sutton explained that as the technology landscape continues to evolve, so must the nation’s cyber forces.
She said her “top priority,” if confirmed, will be to address the “rate of change” in the cyber domain “with speed and agility in the department.”
To do that, she said her second and third priorities, “will be to make sure that we have the talent that we need to understand this dynamic environment and that we have the technologies, and we’re leveraging them quickly to respond to challenges like AI.”
“My experience across the cyber domain is that while technology is incredibly important, it is not going to be effective without the best and the brightest available to utilize it,” the nominee said.
Sutton said she believes the DoD faces two challenges when it comes to the cyber workforce: the first is recruiting top talent, and the second is retaining those talented individuals.
According to Sutton, the talented operators and analysts at U.S. Cyber Command stay in the force not just for financial incentives, which she said “is something we certainly need to work through to make sure that we’re compensating our workforce for their skill sets.” They also stay in the forces to “execute mission and to defend our nation,” she said.
“If confirmed, I look forward to finding opportunities, whether it be finding training for them or just continuing to keep them doing their jobs to build and maintain the best cyber force that we can have,” Sutton told lawmakers.
Sutton also said that, if confirmed, she would like to further leverage programs such as the Cyber Center of Excellence program, which helps bring talented students into government.
In addition to strengthening the cyber workforce, Sutton also stressed the importance of developing offensive cyber plans and capabilities to deter adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran.
“The adversary only has to be right once – I think that goes to show that while we need strong defenses, we are not going to deter the adversary with defenses only,” Sutton said.
“If confirmed, I will work to strengthen our offensive cyber capabilities to ensure the president has the options he needs to respond to this growing threat,” she added.
In order to develop offensive cyber capabilities, Sutton pointed back to the need for a strong cyber workforce within the DoD.
“Again, it goes back to talent, making sure that we have talented young individuals and empowering them to develop solutions against some of these challenging problems,” she concluded.
Sutton currently serves as the chief technology advisor to the commander and director of Pentagon operations at U.S. Cyber Command, a role she has held since June 2023.
Before that, Sutton worked as a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, overseeing 5G, cyber, digital modernization, and emerging technology efforts at the DoD. She also served on the House Committee on Armed Services, managing the cyber, IT, cloud, and information operations portfolio for the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
Sutton received high praise from both sides of the aisle during her confirmation hearing, including from Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who said, “This is a role for which she is imminently qualified. And I say without reservation, I can think of no one better suited for this position.”