{"id":32450,"date":"2024-06-05T19:23:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T19:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/06\/05\/workforce-issues-a-non-technical-barrier-to-dod-cyber-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:00:08","slug":"workforce-issues-a-non-technical-barrier-to-dod-cyber-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/it-networks\/cybersecurity\/2024\/06\/05\/workforce-issues-a-non-technical-barrier-to-dod-cyber-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Workforce issues a non-technical barrier to DOD cyber competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If the Defense Department expects to maintain a competitive edge in cyber warfare and other emerging technologies on the digital battlefield, then it has to be able to develop these tools quickly \u2014 something that can be difficult in a bureaucratic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it so often does, the U.S. government is looking to the private sector for inspiration, and it\u2019s seeing commercial partners leveraging these tools already, officials from the U.S. military and the Pentagon said at the 2024 C4ISRNET Conference on Wednesday. That\u2019s in no small part due to the fact that many of these companies have the workforce on hand to use them and can recruit competitively on pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen Big Tech and large tech companies embracing some of these tools, and they\u2019re moving out with it because they see the value in these methods,\u201d said Benjamin Bishop, deputy director of transition in the Adaptive Capabilities Office of DARPA. \u201cBut a lot of those companies … can pay salaries for this talent that may not translate to other companies in the defense industrial base because their focus area is different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a need, he said, to make these capabilities accessible not just to certifying organizations and those with specialized training or expertise, but to the broader workforce to move U.S. military strategy forward holistically. And it needs to happen fast enough so that the latest technology is not mired in acquisition regulation and rendered obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do we navigate the the non-technical barriers to our transition?\u201d said Bishop. \u201cHow do we get the tools into the hands of the warfighters in order to maximize their success?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proliferation of digital threats in recent years has forced cybersecurity to become the responsibility of every Pentagon office, civilian and military. Bishop noted that the cyber-contested environment is rapidly become a standard character of war, and the Biden Administration, too, has set top-down goals for every aspect of government to be equipped with security measures in place, whether they contribute directly to national defense or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\t