Pentagon’s Roughly 500 Cyber Operators Draw Watchdog Scrutiny

The Pentagon said it agreed with the GAO’s findings and recommendations.

Photographer: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

The Pentagon’s sprawling cyber operations involve about 500 organizations and more than 70,000 personnel, numbers that signal significant potential for costly overlap and inefficiency, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released on Wednesday.

The report describes a vast, decentralized and at times duplicative system in which each military branch develops service and support units that sometimes overlap.