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Threat Intelligence & APT The Record 2 weeks ago

After reports on suicide deaths, Pentagon puts Cyber Command on notice

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CyberNew Threat Research Desk
• Original Reporting: The Record
CyberNew Threat Intel Assessment
Assessed Severity: INFORMATIONAL
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Enterprise Perimeter & Network Defense
Intelligence Sector
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Analyst Takeaway

"The Department of War seal on a lectern at the Pentagon. Image: U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza After reports on suicide deaths, Pentagon puts Cyber Command on notice Editor's Note: Story updated 9:05 a.m. Eastern time on October 1 with comments from the Pentagon. The Pentagon’s top cyber policy official last month instructed U.S. Cyber Command to take a series of quick,..."

Recommended Defense & Mitigation

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Pentagon
The Department of War seal on a lectern at the Pentagon. Image: U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza

After reports on suicide deaths, Pentagon puts Cyber Command on notice

Editor's Note: Story updated 9:05 a.m. Eastern time on October 1 with comments from the Pentagon.

The Pentagon’s top cyber policy official last month instructed U.S. Cyber Command to take a series of quick, mandatory actions to better safeguard the well being of its personnel in the wake of recent suicide deaths.

“As we look to expand and enhance the long-term resilience and readiness of our cyber forces, we must establish formal, proactive structures to support our operators,” Katherine Sutton, assistant secretary for cyber policy and principal cyber adviser, wrote in an August 31 unclassified memo to U.S. Cyber Command chief Army Gen. Joshua Rudd.

The directive, obtained exclusively by Recorded Future News, was sent after initial news reports this summer of a suicide cluster at the command. The incidents pushed concerns about mental health and wellness to the forefront of the military’s cyber enterprise and sent command officials and congressional lawmakers alike searching for ways to surge more resources to such efforts.

Sutton’s memo amounts to something of a bureaucratic warning to Cyber Command to act swiftly to address the issue. It remains unknown if daily workloads were a factor in the suicide deaths, however the memo signals that senior officials are aware of the possibility. 

The “continuous, high-tempo nature of ongoing active cyber operations imposes a unique cumulative, cognitive and psychological toll,” the memo states. “Unlike traditional kinetic forces, cyber teams lack standardized periods of operational restitution, reconstitution between deployments which impact retention and long-term analytic performance.”

Source Verification & Original Intelligence

This threat report was reviewed by CyberNew analysts and cross-referenced with primary security disclosures from The Record.

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