ip: Guard tapped for infowar duties

[DS]

>From UPI,
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=142127
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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.
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--
Dan S

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