The US Military Can’t Just “Hire” Cyber Expertise. Here’s Why.

[rangerrebew]

The US Military Can’t Just “Hire” Cyber Expertise. Here’s Why.

James Armstrong | May 2, 2018
The US Military Can’t Just “Hire” Cyber Expertise. Here’s Why.

In a recent MWI article, Butch Bracknell rightly acknowledged the many “gallons of ink spilled” over the subject of how to bring skilled cyber specialists does into the military. He concludes that challenges associated with recruiting such specialists to serve in uniform can be sidestepped by simply not having most of them serve in uniform at all. And while he accurately addresses three main reasons why certain military tasks are assigned to uniformed members of the armed services (mainly to distinguish their roles in combat zones), his view that cyberspace operations need not be among such tasks is undermined by the convergence between cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence, and signal disciplines. And the example he uses as a model for how cyber expertise might be “hired”—the Marine Band—is too fundamentally different from the military’s cyber needs to be deeply useful.

https://mwi.usma.edu/us-military-cant-just-hire-cyber-expertise-heres/

[driftdiver]

As someone who employes these flakes in my business.  No they shouldn't be military.

[Taxcontrol]

As a veteran who currently works in cybersecurity, I can say that there are a couple of factors that need to be considered.

First is the lingering misconception that a hacker makes a good cybersecurity professional.  That is simply NOT the case.  Yes, there is an area where a hacker can provide useful skills regarding security controls, but that is only one aspect of what it takes.  Other considerations are morals so that the attacker knows the difference between what they can do, should do, and are authorized to do.  This means that the ideal candidate for training in Cybersecurity is NOT the kid off the street.  The more likely candidate is someone who has been promoted a couple of times, has a security clearance and already has experienced working in IT operations.