Defense Department officials are said to be close to approving a five-fold expansion of the Cyber Command, with the aim of increasing the cyber protection force from 900 troops and civilian personnel currently to about 4,500.

Approval of the plans was reported in the Washington Post on Jan. 27. However, Pentagon officials told Foreign Policy magazine a day later that no formal decision had been made yet.

The hike in cyber activities is said to be needed to defend against growing cyber threats to critical Internet and electronic systems from foreign adversaries.

It was not clear how looming budget cuts would affect the plans.