TECHNOLOGY: Pentagon’s Cyber Warriors
August 19, 2013 at 2:37 pm 2 comments
More Than 40
NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander at Aspen Security Forum (Photo courtesy Aspen Institute)
Army Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency — and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command — made headlines back in March when he told Congress that the Defense Department was readying 13 teams to go on the offensive against enemies in cyberspace.
Another 27 teams will be created to support the needs of the military’s regional combatant commands in the cyber world, he said.
But that’s not all.
Many more teams are planned to safeguard the Defense Department’s information networks. Your 4GWAR editor writes about them and the manpower needs they will require in the Aug. 19 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology (subscription only).
Defending cyberspace and acquiring the tools and talent was a hot topic at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and we wrote about that July 19 on 4GWAR. We got additional information and details about planning for the cyber teams from some top officials, like the commander of the Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command, at the Global Intelligence Forum, sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) in Washington.
Entry filed under: Counter Terrorism, Homeland Security, National Security and Defense, News Developments, Skills and Training, Technology, Unconventional Warfare, Weaponry and Equipment. Tags: Aspen Security Forum, cyber security, cyberwarfare, Gen. Keith Alexander, Global Intelligence Forum, National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command.
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NG36B | August 24, 2013 at 9:14 am
Good start, but the bigger problem is upward mobility is lacking for cyber professionals. If they stay in cyber too long, whether it’s in the Army or the Navy, they don’t tend to promote. The Navy has a good model for producing submarine officers, surface warfare officers and pilots, where they may take a duty outside of their warfare area, but only for 2 years…then they are expected to get back to their primary duty. In the case of cyber, Navy officers are expected to get back to SIGINT and/or EW, and staying in cyber too long cripples your ability to promote. We need to solve that problem first before any decisions on cyber end-strength are made.
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John M. Doyle | August 27, 2013 at 11:19 pm
Thanks NG36B. Good (and troubling) observation. I’m sure after a year or two they’ll have a whole set of rules written, commented on, modified and then published. I wonder what that will do to this strategy’s momentum.
–John
BTW, that’s a very interesting (and helpful) Blog you have at:
http://navygrade36bureaucrat.blogspot.com/