Increasing Lethality Through Cyber Command 2.0
U.S. Cyber Command leaders are identifying and working to achieve the needs of the nation’s unified combatant command for the cyberspace domain, and the new CYBERCOM 2.0 is helping fill in the gaps. Brig. Gen. Reid Novotny, chief artificial intelligence officer at the U.S. Cyber Command, and cyber force generation lead at the Department of War (DOW), unveiled these needs during his keynote address at TechNet Cyber 2026 in Baltimore.
“We need an organizational structure,” Novotny announced. “We need people to be in that structure, and we need the training to keep that pace. This is what Cyber Command 2.0 is all about.”
He explained that the training they need must be deep, technical and always relevant. “The DOW, and what I would say, the nation really needs an organizational construct that will provide mastery, that depth, that individual with the right technology and training to compete with our pacing threat against China,” Novotny added. “We need to be there. We are moving in that direction.”
The defense cyber community also needs a workforce—both military and civilian—that is specialized and agile, per Novotny. He is calling for the total workforce to be categorized as “very masterful operators.”
All of these needs can lead to the most important one of all: trust, according to Novotny.
“I want to say that we’ve moved the ball forward with our manning, our training, our equipping, but most importantly, we still need, and we still have, that trust. A trust in our equipment, that trust in people, and we need that as we build these new organizations for the future to be here for what the nation and the department need us for,” Novotny said.
To help satisfy these needs, U.S. Cyber Command personnel are establishing three new organizations as part of the new Cyber Command 2.0 initiative: Cyber Talent Management Organization, Advanced Cyber Training and Education Center and Cyber Innovation Warfare Center.
We need an organizational structure. We need people to be in that structure, and we need the training to keep that pace.
The Cyber Talent Management Organization is all about manning. The role of this group is to identify, appeal to, recruit and retain a high-caliber cyber workforce.
The Advanced Cyber Training and Education Center focuses on the training aspect, and officials associated with this group are responsible for designing and implementing mission-specific lesson plans and training for the cyber workforce.
The Cyber Innovation Warfare Center is all about equipment. These individuals expedite the production and fielding of technologies in cyberspace, according to Novotny and DOW officials.
TechNet Cyber is organized by AFCEA International. SIGNAL Media is the official media of AFCEA International.
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