The United States' military is looking to hire 3,000 cybersecurity professionals to man its infosec unit over the next nine months.
IT Pro Portal says that the government has already approved the move to boost its 1,100-strong security workforce with an additional 3,000 hires across multiple disciplines, including strategic and vulnerability analysis, incident handling and response, program management, cyber exercise facilitation, vulnerability detection and analysis, network and systems engineering, and enterprise architecture.
Speaking to a US House committee last week, Head of Cyber Command Admiral Mike Rogers said that the department had been "cutting manning to the bone" and "initially sacrificing vital support functions and institutional infrastructure to build mission capabilities as fast as possible."
He went on to explain the command's target of 6,200 personnel over 133 teams before the end of the 2016 fiscal year.
"We are already hard pressed to find qualified personnel to man our rosters, to get them cleared, and to get them trained and supported across all 133 teams. Where we need help from you is with resources required to hire personnel to fill the team seats as well as necessary operational and strategic headquarters operations, intelligence, and planning staffs, facilities where we can train and employ them, and resources to properly equip them."
The Fiscal Times notes that the job listing calls for applicants with "unique cybersecurity skills and knowledge to perform cyber risk and strategic analysis, incident handling and malware vulnerability analysis." The pay scale for the new security positions ranges from $42,399 all the way up to $132,122, and the arrangement allows the Pentagon to "skip the process of rating applicants based on traditional competitive criteria", according to Defense One.
