The Department of Defense (DoD) improved its cyber resource readiness between the years 2017-19, but its cyber mission capability readiness decreased over that same span, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
The report, publicly released April 7, also examines DoD readiness in four other domains: ground, air, sea, and space.
“GAO found that reported domain readiness did not meet readiness recovery goals identified by the military services. DOD has identified a wide range of challenges it faces as it seeks to improve readiness in each of the five domains,” the report states.
In examining the cyber warfighting capabilities, GAO examined elements of force by looking at National Mission Force, Combat Mission Force, and Cyber Protection Force. The DoD classified the force elements for the cyber domain, the report states.
GAO conducted interviews with U.S. Cyber Command to help complete this report, and along with the mixed results on cyber, the report also found mixed results in air and space domain readiness, a decline in sea domain readiness, and an increase in ground domain readiness.
GAO recommended improvements to DoD’s readiness recovery efforts, which DoD implemented, as well as a still outstanding recommendation to establish readiness metrics in each of the examined domains.
