Kari Bingen, Defense Department deputy undersecretary for intelligence, told legislators during a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing that security must become “a fourth pillar in defense acquisition” in addition to cost, schedule and performance, Fifth Domain reported Thursday.

Bingen also recommended providing industry partners with incentives to encourage the adoption of security “as a major factor in their competitiveness for U.S. government business.”

The HASC hearing was convened to address the issue of illicit military technology transfer to China, vividly illustrated by reports of a cyberattack on a U.S. Navy contractor’s computer systems, compromising sensitive data pertaining to undesea warfare.

Bingen, along with other DoD officials, spoke at the hearing about the department’s four-pronged, risk-based strategy to secure U.S. military hardware, a strategy that, Bingen acknowledged, may result in friction with some industry partners.

Bingen nevertheless emphasized the need to work with industry to ensure that the “capabilities, technologies and weapon systems” being delivered “are uncompromised by our adversaries, secure from cradle to grave.”

Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Center for a New American Security’s annual conference that the Defense Department is developing technologies to maintain U.S. military superiority against China, DoD News reported Thursday.

The U.S. Air Force general emphasized that the goal is to prevent China from surpassing U.S. technological capacities by the 2030s.

With China and Russia making efforts to offset American military might, the U.S. needs to protect the capacity to support national interests through American power, he said.

“Make this a competition, not a conflict, and checkmate them or prevent them from getting so much an advantage that they can prevent you from doing the things that are in your national interests,” he added.

The U.S. Army plans to invest money to update its mobile tactical network and increase interoperability between troops, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Pete Gallagher, director of the Army’s Network Cross Functional Team, said at an Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association event held Thursday that the military branch looks to award contracts by the end of the current fiscal year to address four areas in two of the group’s lines of effort.

He told audience the service branch will use a portion of its 2018 budget to fund research and development projects and modernize networks that support security force assistance brigades deployed in Afghanistan.

“We spent a lot of time on that the past couple of weeks on divesture recommendations and then where do we need to invest heavy in certain program lines that’s going to give us the maximum network flexibility we are going to need going through 2024,” Gallager added, according to the report.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has said that President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. military to establish a space force will require detailed planning and legislation prior to its formation, The Hill reported Wednesday.

Mattis, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, told reporters Wednesday that Defense Department officials plan to discuss the matter at their meeting with National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday.

“We’ve clearly got to start the process,” he added.

His remarks came two days after President Trump announced plans to issue a directive for the sixth military branch as part of efforts to maintain U.S.’ advantage in space.