DOD Sees Growing Talent and New Technology Integral to Cybersecurity Strategy

By U.S. Department of Defense - August 8, 2019

Teams compete in offensive and defensive cyber operations during the 2019 24th Air Force Cyber Competition in San Antonio, Texas, June 3-7, 2019. Eighty-three Airmen from 20 units across the 24th AF competed in the cyber capture-the-flag in hopes of having their names etched on the coveted cyber cup. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. R.J. Biermann)

Any failure to take the cyber threat seriously puts military missions at risk, and it compromises defense industrial partners and critical U.S. infrastructure, a senior defense official told the audience during a panel discussion at the Cybersecurity Summit in Washington.

“Cybersecurity is a warfighting issue. It’s not a ‘nice-to-have’ capability,” said John Garstka, senior analyst in DOD’s Directorate for Communications and Networks Programs and Policy for Command, Control, Communications, Space and Spectrum, adding that the Defense Department takes cybersecurity seriously.

The panelists at today’s discussion provided an overview of their cybersecurity strategy that included research and development into new technologies such as artificial intelligence and growing a talented workforce.

Monica Montgomery, chief for risk management in the Office of Cybersecurity at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said that “as humans, people will make mistakes.” Once that is acknowledged, she added, automated processes need to be put into place to augment human capability so that breaches can quickly be identified and corrected.

The automated processes to which she referred include AI and machine learning.

Garstka said predictive data analytics could help the Defense Department to better understand its industrial supply chain and where vulnerabilities exist. To test vulnerabilities in the department’s warfighting capabilities, Garstka said, incorporating cyber into rigorous wargaming at the combatant command level has been shown to be very effective.

Jason Martin, vice director of the Development and Business Center and acting director of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Cyber Development Directorate, said a number of innovative tools are available that need to be identified and shared across the department and with other federal organizations.

Regarding talent management, Montgomery said NGIA seeks a broad spectrum of talent for its cyber workforce. Once they’re hired, she said, NGIA allows its people to move around within the organization to broaden their talent, make work more interesting and “not get stuck in a hole.”

Cadets listen to a presentation on “Demystifying Blockchain: Practical Use-Cases of KSI Technology” during the International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia, as part of their cyber-focused AIAD.

Martin said he’s never denied anyone a transfer and agrees that allowing people to move around allows them to grow and share information with their new teams. “We rotate as many people as possible to grow cross-capabilities,” he said.

In the effort to bring new talent into DOD, Martin said, college campuses are a great place to recruit people. Next week, he said, he’ll be attending a cyber challenge at a college campus.

Once students are aware that DOD cyber is a “cool and important mission,” he said, they are much more likely to sign up.