Space Force Cyber Recruitment Program Launched With First Partner in Academe

California State University, San Bernardino on Tuesday announced that it will be the first school to take part in a new Space Force recruitment initiative called the Cyber Halo Innovation Research Program. Through this effort, the Space Systems Command and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are seeking to recruit the service’s next-generation of cyber professionals in partnership with academe, The Record reported Wednesday.

Students selected for the program will be offered two years of space-based cybersecurity training in exchange for service with the SSC after they graduate. The training program also includes mentorship from employees of the Space Force and PNNL, a research internship, and a week-long professional development experience at PNNL.

Col. Jennifer Krolikowski-Stamer, the SSC’s chief information officer, said there is an urgent need for specialized personnel to protect the Space Force’s mission-critical, space-borne assets from cyber threats posed by adversaries. She added that the program aims to “grow a diverse pipeline of talent in cybersecurity” for the command and beyond.

For her part, Evangelina Shreeve, director of PNNL’s Office of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education, said the program also aims to diversify the cybersecurity industry, which has long lacked minority representation and is disproportionately male.

Since 2020, the urgent need for more cybersecurity professionals has prompted the National Security Agency to grant to CSUSB’s Cybersecurity Center a total of $13.5 million. The school, which enrolls some 19,000 students is a space-grant college that receives government funding for space-related research, The Record also reported.

Meanwhile, the Space Force said it will continue to ramp up its cybersecurity hiring at a time when talent is especially hard to find.