Education, Training Opportunities Prioritized By DISA

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is tasked with ensuring information superiority for the U.S. military as it faces new adversaries from without and within. In an article published in AFCEA’s SIGNAL Magazine, Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner discusses DISA’s commitment to training and education.

From SIGNAL:

Gen. Skinner is calling for unleashing the talent inherent in DISA. “It never ceases to amaze me. The talent that we have in DISA, in JFHQ DODIN, across the department and even across the United States is just amazing. It’s our jobs as senior leaders to have the right environment that everyone can realize the best of themselves where we can drive them to greater heights than what they could even imagine.”

This will require aligning the workforce, education and training, he points out. Encouraging their creativity will generate great ideas, which tend to come from the grassroots level, the general posits. “That’s what we need to empower.” He describes it as “an all-hands approach” to recruiting and retaining necessary personnel.

The agency is leveraging its intern program to tap young people in college and high school to give them a taste of the agency and what it does. In particular, DISA is applying some missions that would not be available in commercial opportunities, and the agency is highlighting these as options for young potential hires. “We can’t compete with companies when it comes to salaries only,” the general allows. Instead, DISA must take a balanced approach with mission, benefits, salary and organizational processes as part of culture and workplace climate. “We want to be able to bring all of those different things together and have a best value for individuals,” he says of the many opportunities DISA can offer workers.

Training is key

At Aries, we couldn’t agree more with Gen. Skinner’s goals. Consistent and continual training is key to developing a pipeline of skilled cybersecurity experts capable of filling the growing need. That’s why we’re dedicated to marketing our world-class cyber range: with the right tools at hand, organizations can ensure that their teams are ready to take on any situation, and units can maintain mission readiness to combat novel threats.