Cyber Mission Force

The Cyber Mission Force (CMF) is the standing operational workforce of U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), built from personnel contributed by the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and (more recently) Space Force and Coast Guard. It was established beginning in 2012 and reached its initial 133-team structure at full operational capability in May 2018.

The CMF is organized into four mission categories:

• Cyber National Mission Teams, under the Cyber National Mission Force, defend the United States against significant cyberattacks of national consequence and conduct operations against foreign adversaries.
• Cyber Combat Mission Teams support the geographic and functional combatant commands by integrating cyber effects into military operations.
• Cyber Protection Teams defend Department of Defense networks, systems, and data.
• Cyber Support Teams provide analytic and planning assistance to the National and Combat Mission Teams.

CMF teams operate under the doctrine of "persistent engagement" and "defend forward" articulated in the 2018 DoD Cyber Strategy, which authorizes contesting adversary activity below the threshold of armed conflict and outside U.S. networks. Reported CMF activities include operations against the Islamic State (notably Joint Task Force Ares, 2016) and election-security "Hunt Forward" deployments by the Cyber National Mission Force to partner countries such as Ukraine, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

In 2022, the Cyber National Mission Force was elevated to a sub-unified command under USCYBERCOM. Congress, through successive National Defense Authorization Acts, has periodically expanded CMF end strength; plans announced in 2022–2023 call for growing the force beyond its original 133 teams. The CMF is distinct from the National Security Agency workforce, although USCYBERCOM and NSA share a "dual-hat" commander and co-located facilities at Fort Meade, Maryland — an arrangement that has been the subject of repeated policy reviews.