US Army Officials Seek to Improve Soldiers’ Cyber Education

Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, the head of the U.S. Army Cyber Command, seeks to better educate commanders and troops about what is possible in cyber operations. Speaking at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association TechNet Augusta conference, she called on national training centers to teach more about offensive cyber, information advantage and electronic warfare concepts.

Barrett said several initiatives are underway “at all echelons” to improve familiarity with and commence training on such topics.

Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton, commander of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence, shared that the service is developing a data and digital literacy curriculum that will be integrated into standard military education. Stanton leads the CCoE at Fort Gordon, Georgia, a facility for training cyber, signal and EW soldiers.

Barrett and Stanton are proponents of early and continued learning to build cyber familiarity and ensure proper employment in cyber roles. In the U.S. military, cyber specialists are usually tasked with protecting information and defending against malicious actors, Defense News reported.

At the TechNet Cyber conference in May, Stanton highlighted the potential for an ongoing Department of Defense offensive cyber training program to save costs.