Pentagon plans massive surge in Cyber Command staff

Boosting online warrior numbers from 900 to 4,900

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 

The US military is planning a massive increase in the capabilities of its Cyber Command online-warfare department as it seeks to exert dominance over the digital battlefield.

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Currently there are around 900 uniformed and civilian staff employed by the Pentagon in its Cyber Command, which is separate from the National Security Agency – at least in principle. In practice, however, the two work side-by-side, and both are headed by the same man, General Keith Alexander

A senior defense official told the paper that the Pentagon would primarily focus on online activity outside of US domestic borders, and would only be involved in major online attacks, not minor hacking and phishing annoyances. US companies and those international companies that use American-hosted services won't be touched.

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The staffing increase is scheduled to begin later this year and next, but there are likely to be problems simply finding that many people with the right skills to do the job. The military was at last year's Black Hat hacking conference looking for recruits and support from the private security industry, but weren't finding many takers.
Security researchers who have worked with the Pentagon have complained that all too often the government wants to know their security tricks, but isn't willing to share its knowledge or pay the kind of rates that researchers can make in private industry.

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