Competition keen for next generation of cyberwarriors.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SPACE TECHNOLOGY

The Air Force last year established its first command devoted solely to protecting and attacking networks. But in a time when cybersecurity experts are in high demand, the question has arisen: Where is the talent coming from?

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The Air Force is beginning to stock the new command with specialists who will be charged with defending the service's computers.

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, conceded at the Space Foundation's Cyber 1.0 conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., that the Air Force is not yet prepared to defend its networks.

"We are ready to be ready," was his best assessment of the Air Force's plans to stand up the new 24th Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He used terms such as "stop the bleeding" and "performing triage" when it comes to the incessant attacks on the service's networks.

One of the reasons for the lack of prepared-ness, he said, is "the bulk of the expertise and the bulk of the activity in cyberspace is not in the Air Force or even in the Department of Defense, but it is elsewhere."

The 24th Air Force is expected to reach full operational capability this fall, he said. After that, defending the service's networks, which are located at the other numbered Air Forces, will be its responsibility.

But with the private sector and other parts of government competing for the same pool of experts, the Air Force will have to recruit and develop its own corps of talented youth, or find the necessary skills outside, Kehler said.

The service is at the beginning stages of institutionalizing the expertise in the field of network operations. In June, the Air Force was expected to graduate its first class of " cyberoperations" specialists. The new designation will be for officers and enlisted personnel. In April, the Air Force approved the first "cyberspace badge" for officers working in the domain.

"The badge symbolizes the new operational mindset and the Air Force's commitment to operationalize the cyberspace domain," Lt. Gen. William T. Lord, the chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer at the office of the secretary of the Air Force, said in a Space Command statement.

However, badges, medals and tabs that recognize technical expertise were until recently nonexistent, wrote two Army officers last year. This lack of uniform accoutrements points to larger, more systemic problems that will face the services as they try to recruit and retain cyberexperts...