ArgumentIs It Time for a U.S. Cyber Academy?
Cybersecurity is a critical threat to national security. American is one of the most technologically advanced, and technologically dependent, nations on Earth. Gregory Conti writes that our adversaries know and exploit this. “To change the tide, we need to create a service academy dedicated to cybersecurity and cyber operations. This idea isn’t new, but the need is critical,” he writes.
Cybersecurity is a critical threat to national security. American is one of the most technologically advanced, and technologically dependent, nations on Earth. Gregory Conti writes in FCW thatour adversaries know and exploit this. “Across the government and military we are rushing to secure our systems, but fighting and often losing an uphill battle.”
He adds:
To change the tide, we need to create a service academy dedicated to cybersecurity and cyber operations. This idea isn’t new, but the need is critical.
Today, each service academy focuses on the requirements of the military service it feeds. This is as it should be. West Point focuses on the land domain, the Naval Academy on the sea, and the Air Force Academy on air and space. Absent is an academy for cyberspace, which was recognized as a warfighting domain in 2011.
We are missing an opportunity. No, it’s more than that. We are putting our nation at risk.
While today’s service academies include some cyber operations content, this percentage is necessarily small compared to the overall program and student population. Today there is a critical shortage of cybersecurity expertise, especially in the government. An academy focused on the cyber domain is needed now to recruit, educate, train, and inspire such talent.
