Abstract:
The U.S. Department of Defense established the Technology Support Office (TSO) in April this year. Politico quoted 12 current and former national security officials as saying that the agency is designed to assist the United States in secretly interfering with foreign technology projects that are deemed to threaten U.S. military superiority. However, the report also pointed out that TSO itself does not have the legal authority to directly conduct covert operations and mainly cooperates with the military and intelligence agencies to develop tools and design action plans.
The official directory of the U.S. Department of Defense Historical Office shows that the deputy secretary approved the establishment of the TSO and director positions on April 14. The director will be led and managed by the undersecretary for intelligence and security. The public responsibilities listed in the document include coordinating the confidentiality management of classified projects, managing commercial support databases, driving research and development and testing, and coordinating intelligence analysis, target prioritization, mission planning and action plans. The Department of Defense's administrative prioritization document in June also listed TSO as a defense agency to be established in 2026.
According to Politico, TSO was established by reorganizing two classified projects that have been conducting small-scale covert technical sabotage activities since 2023. Office personnel, said to include engineers, special operators and intelligence officers, may develop custom hacking tools or devise deception operations that would allow adversaries to install faulty parts into weapons systems. Cyberattacks, supply chain disruption, and disinformation have been reported as potential directions of action, but public information has not confirmed that these actions have actually taken place.
The report also stated that the Department of Defense office in charge of intelligence and security began studying the expansion of related projects as early as early 2025, and then chose to establish a new agency with independent budget and procurement authority instead of placing the work under the Cyber Command. The Pentagon reportedly selected Grant Hundley, a former Marine Corps special operations officer, as director this summer, and appointed William Nelson to lead intelligence for sensitive activities and special projects, which Nelson will oversee with Bradley Hansel, the undersecretary for intelligence and security. Official directories in April still listed the director position as vacant, making it impossible to confirm the reported summer appointment.
The scale of TSO’s funding is unclear, and reporters were unable to confirm specific funding or new contracts. A former senior Defense Department intelligence official estimated that the classified contract budget could exceed $1.5 billion; this is a personal estimate and not an official budget figure. The source also said that TSO has expressed interest in offensive hacking capabilities to some contractors and plans to establish a catalog of commercial technology tools to reduce duplication and administrative barriers between various classified projects.
According to reports, Special Operations Command and Cyber Command had worried that the new agency would squeeze their own budgets; two former intelligence officials also said that friction around TSO was part of the reason for the departure of Cyber Command chief procurement officer Ruan Kai. Some respondents supported strengthening technical operational capabilities, but worried that operations could harm civilians, increase tensions with non-belligerent countries such as China, or divert classified contracts to political allies close to the government. The report said that only a small number of congressional staff were informed of the plan; some interviewees believed that the participation of professional intelligence officials could provide certain protection.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss denied the claims on which the report was based, saying the source may have misunderstood the situation or deliberately misled, but did not specify which content was untrue. He said that the Department of Defense would cooperate with congressional oversight and denied the conflict of interest accusations, saying that relevant personnel must comply with financial disclosure, asset disposal and screening mechanisms. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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