The Pentagon has spent months building the Technology Support Office, or TSO, to help disrupt foreign technology programs seen as threats to U.S. military superiority, POLITICO reported Oct. 22. The outlet said it spoke with 12 current and former U.S. national security officials. Some helped establish the office or worked closely with it; others had more indirect knowledge. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Jacob Bliss challenged the account, telling POLITICO that its query “appears to be built on information that is simply not true.”
According to POLITICO’s account, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg created TSO by reorganizing two classified Pentagon intelligence programs that had done similar work on a smaller scale since 2023. POLITICO also reported that Feinberg signed a memo establishing the office on April 14 and placing it under the intelligence and security undersecretary’s control.
What the office could do
Expanding that work could potentially include cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions and disinformation operations, POLITICO reported. The outlet draws a legal distinction: TSO lacks authority to conduct clandestine operations directly, but works with senior military and intelligence officers to develop tools and strategies. The report does not identify a completed TSO attack. POLITICO said it could not determine how much money had been allocated for the office’s operations or whether it had issued any new contracts.
One current national security official told POLITICO that only a small number of congressional staffers had been briefed on TSO. Bliss said the department would keep working with relevant committees so Congress could fulfill its oversight responsibilities.
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