Security1 publisher3 min readPublished
Congress moves to write Cyber Command mental health support into the December NDAA
Lawmakers are looking to the annual defense bill for support money and for clinicians who can pass a security clearance, after a string of suicide deaths among military and civilian personnel at US Cyber Command.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- Congress is looking for ways to add mental and emotional support for US Cyber Command personnel after a recent string of suicide deaths among service members and civilian staff at the command.
- Staff on both Armed Services committees have been briefed on the cluster, and sources told Recorded Future News the sessions could draw enough member attention to get fresh provisions written in.
- Staffers for the Armed Services chairs and ranking members are expected to negotiate informally over the recess, with a final bill ready before Thanksgiving and a vote likely in December.
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Why it matters
- constraint Every provider needs a clearance, so an expansion competes for cleared clinicians in a pool Elfreth says is already short.
- decision With no Senate markup before the recess, a handful of Armed Services staffers decide in informal talks whether Cyber Command support survives into the reconciled text.
- contradiction Operators say it is unknown whether work contributed to these deaths, and congressional sources describe stress on the system; Congress is legislating ahead of any causal finding.
- precedent Widening the Pentagon's suicide cluster definition to cover civilian employees would extend cluster tracking to civilians department-wide, beyond uniformed personnel and beyond Fort Meade.
A mental health provider cannot treat Cyber Command personnel without holding a clearance, a consequence of the command's military mission [13]. Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), a House Armed Services Committee member whose district abuts the Fort Meade fenceline, said she intends to push for language expanding access to those providers [12][13]. "We have a dearth of providers and access," she said [14].
Elfreth has not been briefed on the latest incidents in detail [16]. She said the deaths were "a possibility based on the work that goes on at Fort Meade" [10]. She also wants the Pentagon to widen its definition of a suicide cluster, incidents that fall in a short timeframe, so it covers civilian employees. She called that "a bit of a Hail Mary" for this year's bill [15].
The Pentagon's appetite for cyber capabilities has grown after the command's contributions to missions against Iran and Venezuela, Recorded Future News reported [9]. The workload now spans a months-long conflict with Iran, continuing offensive and defensive operations against Russia and China, southern border control and counter-narcotics [8]. Some past and current operators compared the pattern to the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism, when drone pilots died by suicide [7]. Those operators also said it is unknown whether work was a factor in these deaths [6].
The fiscal 2024 NDAA told the Defense Department to study the "occupational resiliency" of the Cyber Mission Force, the command's main operational arm [20]. Recorded Future News obtained a copy of the study. It found that "resources and programs currently available to CMF personnel are inadequate and may jeopardize long-term personnel readiness, posing unnecessary risk to the mission effectiveness of the CMF" [21]. The report set out steps including tapping senior command officials to "establish a framework to develop, manage, and assess all necessary prevention and treatment programs and procedures", and Congress has not received an implementation plan [22]. The study came out of one defense bill; the support language Elfreth wants would go into another [2].
The House passed its version of the NDAA earlier this year [18]. The Senate is not expected to take up its draft before lawmakers leave for the campaign trail in two weeks, and the two bills have to be reconciled [18]. New Cyber Command provisions would therefore be drafted in the informal talks over the break, ahead of the final bill [1]. "It certainly shows stress on the system and that this is the time for us to react," one congressional source told Recorded Future News [4]. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Bloomberg first reported the cluster [2]. Recorded Future News did not report how many people died [3]. Cyber Command and the NSA declined to comment [23].
What to watch
- Whether the reconciled NDAA due before Thanksgiving carries Cyber Command support language at all.
- Whether DOD delivers the implementation plan for the Cyber Mission Force occupational resiliency findings.
- Whether Elfreth's attempt to include civilian employees in the Pentagon's suicide cluster definition survives negotiations.