LAUREL, Md. -- Technology is advancing every day, and so do the threats it presents. The need for cyber security specialists is becoming a high priority for federal agencies such as the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.
There's only one problem -- finding and retaining enough skilled technicians to meet future industry challenges.
This concern was the focal point at a forum of 250 government and private sector employees and educators who met to look at ways to meet the needs of the cyber world.
The fourth annual Education and Alliance Development Forum, entitled "Cyber Security: Key to the Future," was held Feb. 8 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel.
Dedicated to figuring out how to prepare youth and the work force in facing the challenges in cyber security, the daylong forum brought together expert panelists from the government, defense and commercial sectors to speak on the needs of each of the industries.
Three members of the Fort Meade community were present at the forum, speaking on behalf of the government perspective.
Deborah Bonanni and George Bartko represented the NSA. Air Force Col. George Lamont spoke as a representative of U.S. Cyber Command.
Bonanni, chief of staff at the NSA, delivered the keynote speech. She touched on some of the main concerns foreseen over the coming years, including the loss of experienced employees who are soon retiring.
Fewer young people are studying the required fields to take over on the cyber security front. Government agencies such as the NSA are looking for students majoring in computer science, engineering, intelligence analysis and foreign languages, Bonanni said.
"As we look into the future, we're facing a significant national security problem in that not enough U.S. citizens are going into these disciplines," Bonanni said.
Bonanni also discussed the small number of women and minorities heading into the field.
Although women are beginning to move ahead of men overall in earning a doctorate, they are not entering into the necessary fields, she said.
In their remarks, Bartko, chief of the NSA Cyber Task Force, and Lamont, U.S. Cyber Command director of exercise and training, began the forum where Bonanni left off.
Panelists spoke about the government's future needs and how they can be achieved. Mark Orndorff of the Defense Information Systems Agency joined Bartko and Lamont on the panel.
"Cyber space changes so quickly, it's never really the same for very long," Bartko said in his opening. "With the domain that changes so much like that, it's important -- it's almost essential -- for us to make progress in the domain as a nation in that we have great education and training."
U.S. Cyber Command promotes the need to educate the next generation of cyber security experts.
"Our leadership recognizes we must recruit, train, educate, motivate and retain those of a cyber cadre that will give us the ability to operate effectively in cyber space in the long term," Lamont said.
Bartko said the NSA has a long-standing commitment to education and training, including seminars for employees and providing internships.
"We have a very vigorous program," he said. "[We have] lots of different intern programs going on right now including all the way down to the high school level."
NSA also reaches out to the community, both locally and nationwide, to work with students as young as elementary school age to interest them in math and science. Bartko said teaching children at a young age is critical.
"We have to get folks interested about the disciplines that we want to strengthen for our nation as a whole," he said.
Echoing Bonanni, Bartko spoke about the necessity of getting minorities and women into the field -- the more perspectives, the better.
"In a space that no one can actually see ... diversity of perspectives is really important." he said. "We don't succeed in any of our missions, especially since we do our missions in this domain, without diverse perspectives."
Though both Bonanni and Lamont said their cyber groups are well staffed and receive thousands more resumes than openings, panelists said it is crucial to figure out how to lure more young people in the field before there is a shortage of workers.
"We have resumes for the jobs we have today," Lamont said, "but what about the jobs for tomorrow and those people to fill that gap as we move into the new generation'"
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