Army Maj. Gen. William Hartman has been selected by President Joe Biden as the next deputy of U.S. Cyber Command, completing a significant leadership overhaul within the military’s top digital warfighting organization.
Hartman, who has been leading Cyber Command’s elite Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) since 2019, was nominated for his third star, though the specific post is not specified in the congressional record.
If confirmed, Hartman will replace Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who has been nominated by the administration to helm Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, succeeding Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, the retiring dual-role chief.
Hartman has a long history of working at Cyber Command, including his role as deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber Army and his subsequent promotion to chief of the CNMF in 2019. Notably, he played a key role as the co-lead of a joint election security task force with the NSA, which focused on protecting the 2020 presidential election.
During his tenure, the CNMF has become instrumental in the command’s national security objectives, addressing issues such as election security, countering Russian hackers targeting Ukraine, and combating digital espionage and ransomware threats.
The CNMF’s work has been further supported by their “hunt forward” missions, where U.S. personnel deployed to various countries, including Ukraine, to gain insights into the digital tactics of foreign adversaries and acquire new malware samples.
With Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Nakasone predicted an increased demand for these operations.
The CNMF’s significance has grown to the point that it was authorized as a permanent subordinate organization within Cyber Command in late 2022. As Hartman assumes the position of the command’s deputy, the digital corps will also need a new chief, with Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock likely to be selected for the role.
