The Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act would split the U.S. Department of Defense's CIO position into two separate roles, FedScoop reports.
The $700 billion defense policy bill for fiscal year 2018 — which was approved by the Armed Services Committee in June — would divide the DOD CIO responsibilities between a chief management officer and a chief information warfare officer.
The chief management officer would be elevated to the "third most powerful [position] in the Pentagon," according to FedScoop, and would focus on the department's business operations, including those related to business IT systems. The chief information warfare officer, who would report to the DOD secretary, would oversee cybersecurity, cyberwarfare and information dominance.
Officials said the goal of the change is to improve the DOD's strategy and policy related to cyber- and electronic-warfare.
"It's a recognition that at the Pentagon, you've currently got a CIO who's doing a traditional CIO role, just like you'd see at another department or agency, but then because of the unique nature of the Pentagon, information also has applicability in terms of information warfare," a committee aide told FedScoop. "Those are two very, very different jobs, especially with the rising importance of the information domain, with regard to cyber."