{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-delivers-opening-statement-at-cyber-subcommittee-hearing", "Rounds Delivers Opening Statement at Cyber Subcommittee Hearing", "2018-09-26", "2018", "2018-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Cybersecurity Subcommittee, today delivered the opening statement at a joint Cybersecurity and Personnel Subcommittee hearing to review the cyber operational readiness of the Department of Defense (DoD).\n\nRounds remarks, as prepared for delivery:\n\nThe Cybersecurity and Personnel Subcommittees meet this afternoon to receive testimony on the cyber operational readiness of the Department of Defense. Our witnesses are:\n\nBrigadier General Dennis Crall, Principal Deputy Cyber Advisor and Senior Military Advisor for Cyber Policy;\n\nMs. Essye Miller, Principal Deputy, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer;\n\nLieutenant General Stephen Fogarty, Commander, U.S. Army Cyber Command; and\n\nLieutenant General Vincent Stewart, Deputy Commander, United States Cyber Command.\n\nThis hearing will commence in open session, in which Senators Tillis, Nelson and Gillibrand will all make a few opening remarks.\n\nAt the conclusion of Senator Gillibrand\u2019s comments, we will ask our witnesses to make their opening remarks.\n\nAfter that, we will have a round of questions and answers.\n\nWe will then transition to SVC-217, the Office of Senate Security, and recommence in closed session.\n\nEach of the witnesses may provide additional context and testimony that they were not able to provide in an open setting, and we will then close with another round of Q&A.\n\nI encourage members and staff to stay through the closed session, given the gravity of the topic at hand.\n\nThe administration recently issued a new policy document known as National Security Presidential Memorandum 13.\n\nThe new policy entailed by NSPM 13 replaces that of Presidential Policy Directive 20 which virtually paralyzed the conduct of offensive operations by U.S. Cyber Command outside of armed conflict.\n\nI look forward to a Department of Defense briefing on the new policy in the near future.\n\nI am hopeful this new policy will enable the Department of Defense to act more nimbly and effectively to counter and deter our adversaries\u2019 ongoing cyber-attacks on the United States, attacks conducted with virtual impunity.\n\nHowever no such policy, however well crafted, will succeed unless U.S. Cyber Command develops and maintains the high level of cyber operational readiness required to implement it.\n\nWith the elevation of Cyber Command to status as a fully unified command and the Cyber Mission Force\u2019s achieving full operational capability in May, the Department\u2019s cyber forces appear to have moved beyond adolescence.\n\nIt is now vital that the current capability and operational readiness of the command fulfill the requirements entailed by these designations.\n\nI invited Senator Tillis and Senator Gillibrand, along with the remainder of the Personnel Subcommittee, because these shortfalls are not limited to traditional readiness measures of equipment and training.\n\nIndeed, a great deal of the Department\u2019s cyber readiness issues revolve around the shortage of skilled, cyber-capable personnel.\n\nThese shortfalls will only be aggravated if the Cyber Mission Force needs to be expanded in the future, and I am concerned that the current recruitment, pay, retention and career pathway structures in place are not equipped to manage this problem.\n\nI am thus eager to hear the Service or tactical level perspective from General Fogarty; the operational Cyber Command\u2019s perspective from General Stewart; the more strategic and governance perspective from General Crall in OSD; and the CIO and civilian personnel perspective from Ms. Miller.\n\nI am also eager to explore the Department\u2019s plans to correct these shortfalls with the senators of the Personnel Subcommittee today, and I am grateful to have their expertise at this table.\n\nAn ongoing concern of the subcommittee, which I am sure the department shares, is that we preempt a hollow cyber force and that we have a cyber force that is adequately staffed and equipped and has the necessary tools, targeting capability and development capability to respond to operational needs.\n\nIn particular, Cyber Command needs the indigenous capability, without overreliance on NSA, to surveil adversary networks for zero-day vulnerabilities, produce malware to exploit these vulnerabilities and implant this malware within a reasonable and realistic timeline.\n\nSuch capabilities are necessary not only for its DODIN-defense and national missions but also for those conducted in support of the combatant commands.\n\nI am eager to hear about CYBERCOM\u2019s current capacity and activity to assist in EUCOM\u2019s, PACOM\u2019s and CENTCOM\u2019s operations.\n\nEach of our witnesses have an important role to play in this space: General Stewart, as Deputy Commander of Cyber Command, is most directly responsible for the readiness of the Cyber Mission Force; General Crall\u2019s role in defining DOD cyber policy shapes and is shaped by the capabilities offered by the Cyber Mission Force; General Fogarty as Commander of Army Cyber Command is the executive agent for the Persistent Cyber Training Environment and must man, train and equip its cyber teams; and Ms. Miller and the CIO\u2019s office generally retain responsibility for the cyber infrastructure\u2014including that on which the Cyber Mission Force will fight and test their malware\u2014across the Department.\n\nI will close by thanking our witnesses for their service and for their willingness to appear today before the subcommittee.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:06:18Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-delivers-opening-statement-at-cyber-subcommittee-hearing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4864839613437653, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}