Chairman, House Armed Services Subcommittee (HASC) on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems

U. S. Representative Don Bacon, R-2nd District, Nebraska

Responsibilities

• Established in 2021, the HASC subcommittee oversees an array of new technologies and related strategies that inform modern warfare, including both offensive and defensive cyber-related areas.
• Additionally, the subcommittee is given oversight of artificial intelligence, information technology, computer software, and science and technology, as well as defense-wide programs and accounts associated with R&D, testing and evaluation except for missile defense systems. 

Quote

“Time and time again, DoD and Congress reinvent the wheel with strategies and roadmaps for critical technology areas, and what do we really have to show for it? America can no longer afford the time and expense of producing pages and pages of strategies, pilot programs, and technology demonstration and experimentation efforts, with no meaningful follow-on production contracts or capabilities delivered to warfighters at scale. This cycle must end.

“In this moment we need clearly defined operational problems to solve, explicit capabilities developed to meet those challenges, clear-cut funding and contracting mechanisms, and a culture that is willing to move fast, take risks, and deliver solutions.”

Military

• Joined the Air Force In 1985, specializing in electronic warfare and intelligence. Served nearly 30 years on active duty before retiring as brigadier general. His service duties included 16 assignments, five commands and four deployments. 
• Military awards include: two Bronze Star medals, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and two Legion of Merits medals. 

Committees/Caucuses

• Chair of the House Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems Subcommittee.
• Member of the Tactical Air and Land Forces, and Strategic Forces subcommittees; the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations; the Committee on Agriculture; Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture; and the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, among others.
• Serves on multiple congressional caucuses, including the Electromagnetic Warfare Working Group, which he once co-chaired. In 2021, when the Pentagon announced it would establish electromagnetic spectrum operations, Bacon said: “Previously, no one was in charge of U.S. electromagnetic spectrum operations, which resulted in a rudderless operation falling behind China.” 
• In 2023, the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), officially stood up the Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Center (JEC) at Offutt AFB in Sarpy County, NB.

Political/Academic Career

• Announced plans to retire at the end of this Congress.
• Represents Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District (since 2017). Located in the Eastern portion of the state, the area encompasses much of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, and extends west to include Douglas and Saunders counties, with multiple precincts in Sarpy County.
• “Nebraska has earned a reputation as one of America’s leading centers of defense and national security research,” stated Bacon in a release. Among its other facilities, Omaha is home to the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska, which provides “innovative and customer-focused research and development solutions for complex national security requirements to combat weapons of mass destruction.” 
• Assistant professor at Bellevue University.

Education

• Commissioned by the Air Force Officer Training School at Lackland AFB, TX, enrolling in 1985.
• National War College graduate; Distinguished Graduate of Intelligence School; Navigator School; Air Command and Staff College. 
• Northern Illinois University – BA in Political Science in 1984. 

Personal

• Donald John Bacon was born August 16, 1963, in Chicago Heights, IL, to Donald and Joan Bacon. He grew up on the family’s working farm in Momence. Graduated from Grace Baptist Academy in Kankakee in 1980.
• Married his wife, Angie after graduating from college. Together they have four children and eight grandchildren.