Original Broadcast Date: 09/20/2026
Sponsored by Carahsoft
Cyber has traditionally served as an enabler of military operations, but Chris Page, Acting Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations N6N9C, says the Navy needs to prepare for a future where cyber could become the main effort of a battle, phase or even an entire campaign.
Page says cyber will continue enabling other warfighting functions, including intelligence, command and control and fires. What is changing is the possibility that cyber itself could move to the front of a conflict.
That possibility has implications for how the Navy develops and operates its architecture and organizes itself for future operations.
Cyber capabilities can persist for long periods, Page says. They can provide access an adversary might eventually use to cause damage, steal intellectual property, undermine confidence in a fighting force or put forces at risk.
Those capabilities can also complicate escalation and de-escalation during a crisis.
Page describes a thin line between espionage and attack, creating ambiguity that leaders may have to navigate during a conflict. He says the military will need different tools for managing that environment and containing crises.
One model for thinking about cyber resilience already exists inside the Navy: damage control.
Sailors learn how to fight fires, stop flooding and respond to casualties aboard ships because the objective is to keep the vessel afloat and capable of continuing the fight.
Page says the same mentality needs to apply to cybersecurity.
The Navy should expect to take cyber battle damage and prepare to fight through it.
That starts with good procedures.
Well-developed and preplanned responses give sailors something they can rely on during difficult situations. Drilling and inspecting those procedures helps build confidence that people will know what to do when an incident occurs.
The Navy also has fallback capabilities.
Ships carry active and passive sensors that can preserve local situational awareness even when they are disconnected from broader networks. They also carry significant amounts of data, including information collected by onboard sensors and data loaded before deployment or updated when communications are available.
That information can support navigation, maintenance and an understanding of the operational environment and adversary.
Systems themselves also need enough resilience to continue providing access to data, applications and other tools when connectivity is degraded.
But Page says the most important component is the sailors.
Experienced subject-matter experts spend significant time learning their specialties. Whether that person is a maintainer, navigator or intelligence specialist, Page says expertise can help crews continue operating during a cyberattack.
Data will also play a significant role in that future.
Page acknowledges the Navy still has work ahead, but says ships, submarines and naval aircraft already contain significant amounts of data. He describes the Navy's nearly 300 ships as essentially “300 floating data centers.”
The challenge is making better use of those resources as the Navy continues pushing data and decision-making capabilities toward the edge.
Artificial intelligence adds another dimension.
Page is particularly focused on convergence — what happens when multiple AI-enabled threats come together.
A sophisticated phishing campaign alone may be manageable. Synthetic media alone may be manageable. Compromised data or a stolen persona may also represent individual challenges.
The danger increases when an adversary combines those capabilities.
Page says the Navy needs to consider what that converged threat environment could look like when developing both defensive and offensive approaches.
The Navy is not approaching that challenge alone.
Page says the service is connected to broader Department of the Navy initiatives, enterprise services, the wider defense enterprise, the intelligence community and other parts of the public sector.
He points to cloud and identity as areas where partnerships have already contributed to the Navy’s progress.
Page describes the Navy as a strong player, but ultimately one member of a larger team.
As cyber becomes more deeply embedded in military operations, that team approach combines with a traditional Navy principle: prepare to take damage, maintain confidence in the ability to fight and keep the mission moving even when systems are under attack.