SCC Publishes Joint Letter to Under Secretary Duffey on FMS Cyber Reform
The Strategic Cybersecurity Coalition (SCC), together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council (PSC), sent a joint letter today to Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey proposing a new Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Cyber Pilot Program designed to get cybersecurity tools into allied hands faster.
The problem. Traditional FMS timelines were built for major kinetic platforms — ships, aircraft, armored vehicles — where multi-year procurement cycles make sense given long manufacturing lead times. Cybersecurity software faces no such physical constraints, yet routine, non-ITAR defensive tools can still take three to four years to reach partner nations under current review processes. By the time the paperwork clears, the technology allies receive is already outdated, while the threats they face evolve in real time.
Why it matters for U.S. readiness. The coalition argues this isn't just a partner-nation problem. U.S. forces depend on allied ports, energy grids, and joint command-and-control networks to operate. When adversaries breach a partner's infrastructure, U.S. operational readiness and mission execution are compromised right along with it. Slow-walking cyber assistance also leaves openings for adversaries to use partner nations as backdoors into the broader defense industrial base — and for state-subsidized alternatives, such as Chinese Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure, to fill the gap with technology that embeds adversary access from the start.
Three proposed fixes. The letter recommends that OUSD(A&S), working with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), pilot a streamlined pathway for sub-threshold cyber purchases built around:
Streamlined agency coordination — reducing the number of offices required to sign off on non-ITAR commercial cybersecurity software and basic IT infrastructure.
Single-office accountability — giving one implementing agency office, such as Navy PMW 740 or a dedicated cyber security assistance office, end-to-end execution authority.
An exemption from technology transfer reviews for COTS cyber tools — allowing low-risk, standard commercial off-the-shelf defensive software to move from request to contract at commercial speed.
The letter emphasizes that the proposal would be a natural extension of the Department's own recent moves toward faster acquisition solutions, including the Acquisition Transformation System and the Counter-UAS Marketplace.
Download the full letter here:
For questions, please contact: tbolton@monumentadvocacy.com
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