The Army today activated a Cyber
Protection Brigade and could launch a new cyber branch as early as next
month, as it continues toward its goal of doubling the size of its cyber
workforce over the next two years.
Funding isn’t a problem in increasing that workforce—across the military, cyber defense is one of the few areas where funding is increasing. The real challenge is in recruiting, training and retaining skilled cyber warriors.
"These soldiers are so unique, and
they're so skilled and they're so few," Command Sgt. Maj. Rodney Harris
of the Army Cyber Command said in an Army release. "The
chief of staff of the Army has asked us to focus hard on what we're
doing for talent management" to attract and keep them on board.
Retention is critical because of the
time it takes for them to become skilled at cyber operations. Properly
training them takes three years—including two six-month courses and two
years of apprenticeship, Harris said. And that’s to qualify as a
journeyman. Very few NCO jobs in the Army require that much training.
"They are highly sought-after technicians," he said.
The keep them from then journeying off
to intelligence work of the private sector, military leaders have
discussed various incentive programs. During a conference last month at
Fort Meade, Md. (home to the U.S. Cyber Command), officials talked about
creating a new career management field for cyber operators, CMF 17.
That field would be broken down according to occupational specialties,
such as CMF 17A for cyber warfare officers and CMF 17C for cyber warfare
specialists, and would be coupled with a package of reenlistment
incentives.
The Cyber Protection Brigade, being
activated by the 7th Signal Command at Fort Gordon, Ga., is one of a
number of approximately platoon-sized teams that will take on various
missions, such as offense operations or defending networks. The teams
will consist of soldiers, NCOs, officers, warrant officers and Army
civilian employees.
As cyberspace becomes ever-more
important to military operations, linking everything from sensors to
weapons systems, the significance of having skilled cyber operators
becomes more apparent, as does the need for training them. The Army Times recently reported that,
in a classified cyber war game last year between uniformed personnel
and reservists, the reservists—many of whom work private-sector jobs in
the cyber realm—handed the uniforms a beating. If that’s what the Cyber
Command is up against, training can’t begin soon enoughhttp://defensesystems.com/articles/2014/09/05/army-cyber-warrior-new-classification.aspx