7 Dec
2000
7 Dec
'00
3 p.m.
>From UPI, http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=142127 - Guard tapped for infowar duties Wednesday, 6 December 2000 18:39 (ET) Guard tapped for infowar duties By PAMELA HESS WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Pentagon formally tapped the National Guard and reserves to shore up the Defense Department's information warfare apparatus Wednesday, calling for 182 reserve officers and enlisted staff with information technology backgrounds to form five support teams. The teams -- known as "joint reserve information operations and information assurance organizations" -- will be on the Pentagon's front line of information warfare. The Defense Department has had a difficult time keeping highly trained IT specialists when far more lucrative offers abound in the private sector. However, many of those skills are resident in the reserve component, where part-time soldiers work full time in information technology. "Members of the Reserve and National Guard are often way ahead by the very nature of their civilian employment, trained in their workplaces to exploit technology," said Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy DeLeon. Because computer work lends itself to telecommuting, the reserve support groups will not necessarily be physically located near the organizations they support. Computer networks will allow them to carry out their duties at "remote" locations. The teams could take on myriad operations, including enemy computer network attacks, defense of U.S. computer networks, psychological operations, electronic warfare, military deception, operational security, intelligence support, vulnerability assessment, incident response and Web site reviews, according to a Pentagon source. DeLeon approved a plan to establish five teams, beginning in 2001. The teams would encompass up to 600 people by 2007, and would directly support the National Security Agency, the Information Operations Technical Center, both at Ft. Meade, Md; the Defense Information Security Agency and the Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense, in Arlington, Va.; and the Joint Information Operations Center at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. -- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved. -- -- Dan S --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'