‘Cyber Marines’ may stay in U.S. - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times
‘Cyber Marines’ may stay in U.S. - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times
Marines pride themselves on being expeditionary, but a new career path could keep some of them at home, in front of a computer, for their entire time in the Corps.
Plans are in the works for a potential slate of new careers and enticements that would build a cadre of specialized computer warfare technicians who wouldn’t necessarily need to branch out to get promoted, the top general responsible for cyberwarfare told House lawmakers Sept. 23.
Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told a House Armed Services Committee panel that tomorrow’s cyber-Marines could essentially spend their entire careers without deploying, instead taking recruiting duty or other jobs.
“One thing that we have to take a look at is, once you get somebody schooled in this area and they become an effective operator, they need to stay in it. And so we’re going to have to take a look at career progression [in which it] isn’t going to be acceptable to somebody not to have to go out of occupational specialty assignment to get promoted,” Flynn said. “This may be the case where, once you’re in cyber, you never leave the cyber, something like we do with some of our special operations units.”
Although Flynn had few specifics for what Marine officials could be cooking up, he did mention that cyber-Marines could have longer enlistments, of which about two years would be spent just in training, and there may be special bonuses or other lures to keep them in the force.
Flynn and the top cyberwarfare commanders of the other three services, who appeared with him, acknowledged the military will not be able to compete with the private sector in paying top dollar for cyber experts. But, they said, they’re confident they can recruit specialists with the promise of high-quality training and their pitch of joining the few and the proud.
“Just like we see young Marines now returning again and again to Afghanistan, sometimes it’s just the opportunity to do what you like doing, and being part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” he said.
Flynn also reassured lawmakers that the Marine Corps was cognizant of potential cyber threats to the power stations, waterworks and other utilities that serve its bases from outside the wire.
Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., asked the service cyber chiefs what they were doing to safeguard their bases in the U.S. from “Die Hard”-style attacks on the power grid, which could threaten them by targeting networks outside their immediate military purview.
“Sir, one of the additional hats that I wear is I oversee a base a little bit south of here,” Flynn began — referring to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. “One of the key things we’ve done is we’ve identified all our critical infrastructure, so we know where all the critical nodes are, whether it be in power, water supply, or anything else that may pass through the base.”
By Philip Ewing
source :‘Cyber Marines’ may stay in U.S. - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times
Marines pride themselves on being expeditionary, but a new career path could keep some of them at home, in front of a computer, for their entire time in the Corps.
Plans are in the works for a potential slate of new careers and enticements that would build a cadre of specialized computer warfare technicians who wouldn’t necessarily need to branch out to get promoted, the top general responsible for cyberwarfare told House lawmakers Sept. 23.
Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told a House Armed Services Committee panel that tomorrow’s cyber-Marines could essentially spend their entire careers without deploying, instead taking recruiting duty or other jobs.
“One thing that we have to take a look at is, once you get somebody schooled in this area and they become an effective operator, they need to stay in it. And so we’re going to have to take a look at career progression [in which it] isn’t going to be acceptable to somebody not to have to go out of occupational specialty assignment to get promoted,” Flynn said. “This may be the case where, once you’re in cyber, you never leave the cyber, something like we do with some of our special operations units.”
Although Flynn had few specifics for what Marine officials could be cooking up, he did mention that cyber-Marines could have longer enlistments, of which about two years would be spent just in training, and there may be special bonuses or other lures to keep them in the force.
Flynn and the top cyberwarfare commanders of the other three services, who appeared with him, acknowledged the military will not be able to compete with the private sector in paying top dollar for cyber experts. But, they said, they’re confident they can recruit specialists with the promise of high-quality training and their pitch of joining the few and the proud.
“Just like we see young Marines now returning again and again to Afghanistan, sometimes it’s just the opportunity to do what you like doing, and being part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” he said.
Flynn also reassured lawmakers that the Marine Corps was cognizant of potential cyber threats to the power stations, waterworks and other utilities that serve its bases from outside the wire.
Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., asked the service cyber chiefs what they were doing to safeguard their bases in the U.S. from “Die Hard”-style attacks on the power grid, which could threaten them by targeting networks outside their immediate military purview.
“Sir, one of the additional hats that I wear is I oversee a base a little bit south of here,” Flynn began — referring to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. “One of the key things we’ve done is we’ve identified all our critical infrastructure, so we know where all the critical nodes are, whether it be in power, water supply, or anything else that may pass through the base.”
By Philip Ewing
source :‘Cyber Marines’ may stay in U.S. - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times
Megjegyzések
Megjegyzés küldése