Washington, DC – This year’s annual defense funding bill, put before Congress just last week, could potentially have a significant impact on Maryland’s role in the War on Terror.

Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger of Baltimore County is pushing a motion in the House of Representatives to turn U.S. Cyber Command, currently a division of the National Security Administration (NSA) in Fort Meade, into a fully-unified combatant command center.

The change would allow Cyber Command, or USCYBERCOM, to execute global defense missions alongside nine other such top-ranked military centers. USCYBERCOM would be the first, however, to work through the web instead of on the ground.

With a 23% increase in internet security attacks since 2013, defense forces that are able to both counteract threats to U.S. computer networks and to infiltrate opponent databases are in high demand. Cyber Command has already begun work on official wartime measures, including an order from the Defense Department to penetrate ISIS computer systems.

The proposed status change would increase the center’s ability to combat cyber-terrorism, Ruppersberger says, continuing, “It only makes sense to have a command that can respond nimbly to cyber threats and organize our offensive and defensive efforts.”

According to Ruppersberger, the new bill “recognizes the fact that cyberspace is the battlefield of the 21st Century.”

Meanwhile in the Senate, Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland are likewise advocating for USCYBERCOM’s upgrade.

“We live in a digital world where the online battlefield can be as dangerous as the front lines,” Cardin says. “We need to make sure our military is always ready and able to fend off continuing and relentless attacks from terrorist organizations, foreign governments, criminals and others who wish to steal, corrupt, or manipulate our critical digital and traditional infrastructure.”

In addition to strengthening the country’s defense system, Maryland lawmakers hope that the measure will bring more funding to the Fort Meade center and, thus, more high-paying job opportunities. It will also bolster Maryland’s reputation as a military hub.

“America is fighting a cyber war every hour of every day,” Mikulski says. “Maryland is our nation’s epicenter of cyber security.”