A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers is pressing congressional appropriators to support an $11 million request for mental health support at U.S. Cyber Command. The push follows several suicides this summer at Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, which share a campus at Fort Meade, Maryland. Two separate letters — one from members of the House Armed Services cyber subcommittee, another from Maryland lawmakers — urged leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations panels to back the funding.
The money would go toward "High Performance Team Training," listed as the second item on Cyber Command's Unfunded Priority List for the year. According to the command's request, the training would provide "cognitive, psychological, physiological, and spiritual sustainment for high-tempo cyber operations," warning that without funding, burnout and force degradation would continue. The House included the request in its fiscal 2027 defense spending bill, but the Senate has not moved on its draft; a continuing resolution keeps the government funded until December 11.
Lawmakers described the conditions facing cyber personnel as uniquely stressful. Members of the cyber subcommittee wrote that many personnel are effectively "deployed in place" for two- or three-year assignments, conducting real-world operations without the clear start and end points, recovery periods, or unit reconstitution cycles of conventional deployments. They also noted that the secrecy of the command's mission can limit access to medical professionals, isolating personnel and weakening readiness and retention. Both letters called the $11 million a "modest investment" relative to the command's overall budget, and the House members argued the funding would establish enduring prevention and care rather than short-term crisis intervention.