The US military’s cyber priorities

Cybersecurity has been getting bigger recognition as an integrated enabler in key U.S. military operations in Iran and Venezuela. That comes on the heels of the Pentagon last year introducing a new cyber mission force generation model as part of the larger Cybercom 2.0 effort. So, who better to discuss the growing prominence of cyber in the defense space than the principal cyber advisors of the various branches overseeing cyber-kinentic integration. At CyberTalks, Daily Scoop host Billy Mitchell hosted a panel with those leaders and a representative from industry to hear the latest on this emerging space. Joining him on the panel were the PCAs from each service — Ann Marie Schumann of the Department of the Navy, Wanda Jones Heath of the Department of the Air Force and Brandon Pugh of the Army — as well as Dave Galoppo, senior director for full spectrum cyber at GDIT.

The Department of Energy is rapidly building out multidisciplinary teams to support the Genesis Mission as it prepares to unveil a minimum viable product later this year, according to a senior agency official. The format for the demonstration is to be determined, but progress is palpable. “We’re going to show quite a lot of results this year,” Darío Gil, DOE’s under secretary for science and director of the Genesis Mission, said in an interview with FedScoop. “We’re going to show results on our progress of building AI supercomputers … the software and the agentic framework.” The agency also plans to showcase the efforts behind the data curation used to train “next generation” AI and the results tied to the application of AI in science and engineering, he added. The Genesis Mission launched in November 2025 by way of an executive order that tasked the Energy Department with leading a national, coordinated effort to accelerate innovation and discovery with the latest advancements in AI, quantum and high-performance computing. As part of the initiative, the agency is working to build an integrated platform that draws on federal scientific datasets and expertise from public and private sectors. A demonstration of the Genesis platform’s initial capabilities is required by mid-year, according to the deadlines outlined in the presidential directive.

A pullback of educational requirements for federal contracting jobs, including in technology work, moved one step closer to reality Monday. The Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act (H.R. 5235) sailed through the House and now awaits Senate consideration. The bill from Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., would ban minimum education requirements for personnel in some contracts. Introducing the bill on the House floor ahead of Monday’s vote, Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., said the legislation ensures federal contractors can “hire who they want to hire without additional red tape.” Mace, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, recounted January 2024 testimony from an IBM executive who said “federal contractors are rarely able to place an individual without a four-year degree on a technology services contract, regardless of their qualifications.” Mace said the issue goes “beyond technology and service contracts,” affecting work across the federal government. Eliminating four-year degree requirements would do away with “a paper ceiling” that blocks “talented Americans” from pursuing opportunities in the billion-dollar industry that “shapes the entire labor market,” she said.

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