New Pentagon initiatives seek to overcome entrenched supply-chain security concerns

Federal officials are injecting a sense of urgency into multiple initiatives to more effectively secure the Defense Department’s expansive supply chain from cyber threats, as one official warned the issue is nearing a “tipping point.”

The federal government overall is still struggling to grapple with the “complexity” of its cybersecurity and supply-chain problems, according to Ron Ross, a computer scientist and fellow at the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

The complexity is driven by the combination of a “vertical...