IT Funding Stands Out in Defense Cuts, JCS Vice Chairman Says
By
Bob Brewin
IT is at the heart of national security, Winnefeld tells tech conference.
Spending for information technology stands out in a tight Defense Department budget climate where “flat is the new up,” Navy Adm. James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an industry meeting last week.
“Almost every element of our national security capability has an element of information technology at its heart,” he said at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s sixth annual Joint Warfighter IT Day last Thursday. “The brains belong to our warfighters, but the nerves are the network.”
Winnefeld said Defense plans to spend $23 billion on cyber operations over the next four years and will add 4,000 cyber warriors.
Of course, all this depends on Congress ever passing a real budget anytime over the next four years, a task it routinely ignores.