[00:04.500 --> 00:09.420]  And welcome back to the Career Hacking Village. One of the things that is always of interest to
[00:09.420 --> 00:15.360]  many people are the various different career paths that are available in government agencies
[00:15.360 --> 00:21.460]  and various different agencies that are part of national service. It is our honor and pleasure
[00:21.460 --> 00:26.860]  to have a group of people here to share with us the various different opportunities where
[00:26.860 --> 00:32.660]  talented professionals can work to support our country. I would like to turn this over now to
[00:32.660 --> 00:38.820]  Joe Billingsley, the founder of the Military Cyber Professionals Association. Joe?
[00:43.190 --> 00:48.950]  Hi Kathleen and everybody. I really appreciate the opportunity to lead the very first
[00:48.950 --> 00:56.090]  national security panel at the Career Village. It's really inspiring the intent behind this
[00:56.090 --> 01:01.990]  village and also Jeff Moss's words about connecting people with knowledge about different
[01:01.990 --> 01:08.270]  career opportunities for folks across the community here. So really excited to be part of
[01:08.270 --> 01:14.590]  that and to introduce you to a number of friends and partners from different parts of the U.S.
[01:14.590 --> 01:19.110]  government who can tell you about different organizations and programs. And it's just
[01:19.110 --> 01:23.790]  really exciting all the different stuff that's happening across the government and different
[01:23.790 --> 01:30.930]  opportunities to serve. First, a quick introduction of myself. Joe Billingsley, founder of the Military
[01:30.930 --> 01:39.410]  Cyber Professionals Association, a 501c3 charity that supports STEM education for K-12 and also
[01:39.410 --> 01:46.870]  active duty military and veterans. I founded that with the motivation of us doing a better job as a
[01:47.710 --> 01:54.270]  community for those who are in the service today and who might want to serve in military capacities
[01:54.270 --> 02:01.490]  in the future. In addition to that, my day job, I'm a government civilian employee over at a school
[02:01.490 --> 02:07.870]  called the College of Information and Cyberspace. It's a really exciting place to work. It has a
[02:07.870 --> 02:14.170]  really long history going back to the 1960s when it was the DoD Computer Institute or the Department
[02:14.170 --> 02:20.090]  of Defense Computer Institute and had faculty like the legendary Grace Hopper working there.
[02:20.090 --> 02:24.510]  A really fun and exciting place to work that's also part of the U.S. government.
[02:25.090 --> 02:30.730]  Now I'd like to quickly go down the list of panelists that we have here today. We have
[02:30.730 --> 02:37.130]  John Felker, who's the Assistant Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,
[02:37.130 --> 02:43.410]  CISA, over at the Department of Homeland Security. We have Diane Janicek, the Commandant of the NSA's
[02:43.410 --> 02:48.990]  National Cryptologic School and also President of the Women in Cybersecurity Mid-Atlantic Affiliate.
[02:48.990 --> 02:57.970]  We have Chris Pimla, an engineer over at the U.S. Digital Service. We also have Roman Vitkovitsky,
[02:57.970 --> 03:04.390]  who's from the U.S. Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary. And finally, we have Liz Popiak,
[03:04.390 --> 03:09.830]  the recently retired Lieutenant Colonel who helped create the U.S. Army Cyber Specialty
[03:09.830 --> 03:16.750]  Direct Commissioning Program. So with that, I'd like to start off and give each of you an
[03:16.750 --> 03:22.650]  opportunity to introduce yourselves and tell us about your organization or program that you're
[03:22.650 --> 03:30.370]  here to talk about today. And we'll get started with John. Go ahead. Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the
[03:30.370 --> 03:36.810]  opportunity to be here today and to be with some really great people that are interested in this
[03:37.610 --> 03:44.770]  this effort, particularly the effort surrounding workforce. So a little bit about CISA. CISA is a
[03:44.770 --> 03:52.710]  relatively new organization. It's been in a transition from a DHS headquarters element to
[03:53.210 --> 04:01.370]  an operating component since legislation was signed in late 2018 that created CISA as an agency.
[04:01.830 --> 04:08.930]  Our major role is we serve as the nation's risk advisor and risk in terms of both cyber,
[04:08.930 --> 04:15.870]  physical, and emergency communications aspects of critical infrastructure and the federal
[04:15.870 --> 04:20.750]  government. So a lot of people don't know what we do. That's it in a nutshell.
[04:21.030 --> 04:27.750]  We have basically five priorities that are the focus of what we do,
[04:28.530 --> 04:35.710]  all related around the federal.gov space and the critical infrastructure of the United States.
[04:35.710 --> 04:41.590]  If you keep in mind, probably 80% of the critical infrastructure in our country is
[04:41.590 --> 04:49.490]  privately held. And so almost everything we do is voluntary. And in that five-level
[04:49.490 --> 04:57.530]  priority list, election security, maintaining supply chain risk awareness, and countering,
[04:57.530 --> 05:05.690]  particularly from China. And that's most apropos now because of the rollout of 5G technologies.
[05:05.710 --> 05:15.370]  Protecting federal networks, securing soft targets, so stadiums, churches, those kinds of things.
[05:15.630 --> 05:22.830]  And then recently evolving but always been important is critical infrastructure protection
[05:22.830 --> 05:28.050]  for industrial control systems. So all those systems that operate the electric grid and water
[05:28.830 --> 05:34.350]  stations and wastewater facilities and all those kinds of things. So it's a big mission.
[05:34.350 --> 05:38.890]  We are a nationwide organization. We obviously have a headquarters element
[05:40.190 --> 05:47.830]  in the Washington DC area, but we have folks out in the real world too, all over the nation
[05:47.830 --> 05:55.470]  in 10 different regions, supporting those basic mission areas of security for cyber,
[05:55.470 --> 05:59.970]  critical infrastructure, and communications. That it?
[06:01.950 --> 06:04.670]  Great. Thanks a lot, John. How about you, Diane?
[06:10.920 --> 06:17.520]  Well, hello, everyone. So I work for the National Security Agency, and it is an honor to be on
[06:17.520 --> 06:23.700]  this career village focusing on national security because, as we all know, cyber security is
[06:23.700 --> 06:29.320]  definitely a huge factor in our nation's national security and our economic security, right? Rests
[06:29.320 --> 06:35.060]  upon a secure digital foundation. So really a pleasure to be here. So the National Security
[06:35.060 --> 06:39.680]  Agency is a fabulous federal agency where I currently work. I also worked at a number of
[06:39.680 --> 06:45.520]  other federal agencies, and they've all been equally rewarding and professionally satisfying.
[06:45.520 --> 06:50.220]  I've had experience at the White House twice, the Pentagon, the Department of Justice. I've
[06:50.220 --> 06:55.840]  worked on Capitol Hill. I worked for the Judiciary Branch and then in multiple elements in the
[06:55.840 --> 07:02.800]  Department of Defense. So fabulous, fabulous place to really spend your career or just spend a few
[07:02.800 --> 07:08.300]  years working on the federal service side. It's extremely rewarding. The National Security Agency
[07:08.300 --> 07:14.620]  has an incredible mission. As we know, it really is there to protect our nation. So we have both a
[07:14.620 --> 07:19.960]  cyber... we have a cyber security mission, and we also have a signals intelligence mission.
[07:19.960 --> 07:24.560]  And so I think a little bit further, we're going to hear from Joe. He's going to ask us what jobs
[07:24.560 --> 07:30.700]  are available, and we have phenomenal opportunities to learn. And they really are very professionally
[07:30.700 --> 07:35.140]  rewarding, and the people that you work with love what they do. You know, you want to work in an
[07:35.140 --> 07:39.940]  environment where people enjoy coming to work, enjoy working with you, and enjoying keep learning.
[07:39.940 --> 07:45.580]  So I have the tremendous opportunity to lead one of a premier learning institution for the
[07:45.580 --> 07:51.260]  national security cryptologic enterprise, a global enterprise around the world with tens of thousands
[07:51.260 --> 07:56.040]  of students across multiple disciplines, including cryptology, cyber language, and leadership and
[07:56.040 --> 08:02.060]  business. So I've enjoyed every step of the way along my federal career, and just really
[08:02.060 --> 08:08.540]  appreciate the opportunity to be on the panel. Thanks so much, Diane. How about you, Chris?
[08:17.900 --> 08:29.070]  You want to unmute, Chris? Got to focus right thing. All right. Hey, I'm Chris. I'm an engineer
[08:29.070 --> 08:33.710]  from the U.S. Digital Service. We are a group of technologists. We work across the government
[08:33.710 --> 08:38.970]  on a tour-de-duty model, so anywhere from like six months to four years, and we bring together
[08:38.970 --> 08:44.190]  engineers, designers, product managers, and direct-to-see hackers to improve government
[08:44.190 --> 08:49.870]  services for the American people. What's really great about U.S. Digital Service is we have an
[08:49.870 --> 08:55.450]  opportunity to work all across government with lots of different agencies. So we have worked
[08:55.450 --> 09:00.730]  on a lot of great public-facing services, making sure that we are trying to do the greatest good
[09:00.730 --> 09:06.950]  for the greatest number of people and the greatest need. So projects like VA.gov, creating
[09:07.090 --> 09:11.790]  a new portal that is user-focused for veterans to be able to get the services and benefits that
[09:11.790 --> 09:16.850]  they have earned through their service. Working with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
[09:16.850 --> 09:23.810]  to help people get green cards and their naturalization status is faster. Small Business
[09:23.810 --> 09:29.210]  Administration, helping to help people get investments and start businesses and grow their
[09:29.210 --> 09:35.290]  community. All sorts of things across the board. It's a really great group of opportunities.
[09:38.350 --> 09:42.910]  No, thanks a lot, Chris, and especially thank you as a veteran. I really appreciate the work
[09:42.910 --> 09:48.830]  that the U.S. Digital Service has done in that department. Now on to you, Roman.
[09:50.010 --> 09:54.070]  Sure. Thanks, Joe, and thank you, Chris, for your help. As a recent veteran of the Marine Corps
[09:54.070 --> 09:58.910]  myself, after serving about 30 years, I was about nine years enlisted and spent the remaining time
[09:58.910 --> 10:04.670]  as an officer working in cyber and communications. Since then, I've now come in to join the Marine
[10:04.670 --> 10:09.190]  Corps Cyber Auxiliary. And with the Cyber Auxiliary, we permit, we facilitate public-private
[10:09.190 --> 10:13.870]  partnerships with the Marine Corps so that we can advance our national interests while keeping in
[10:13.870 --> 10:18.490]  mind the fact that people would provide national service in a context which is safe for all of us.
[10:18.870 --> 10:24.480]  Thanks, Joe. Wonderful. And how about you, Liz?
[10:26.820 --> 10:32.340]  Well, as you mentioned earlier, I recently retired from the Army, a 20-year Army officer
[10:32.340 --> 10:38.540]  as a cyber warfare professional, and most recently was the chief of the branch at the Office of the
[10:38.540 --> 10:44.280]  Chief of Cyber at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The purpose of being on the panel today is to talk about the
[10:44.280 --> 10:49.300]  program that I helped create in my last few years of service called the Army Cyber Specialty
[10:49.300 --> 10:54.460]  Direct Commissioning Program. And this program was kind of the genesis of which was the Army
[10:55.000 --> 11:01.440]  the recognition that there are concerned and talented civilians throughout our nation that
[11:01.440 --> 11:07.660]  want to serve in a capacity of which they can't do in their private sector. For example, maybe
[11:07.660 --> 11:13.340]  they want to exercise and project power in and through the networks and through cyberspace. And
[11:13.340 --> 11:18.860]  as a civilian, that can be something that maybe is not necessarily illegal. So the cyber program
[11:18.860 --> 11:22.980]  here was created to find a way for them to come and do that on behalf of their nation,
[11:22.980 --> 11:26.720]  on behalf of their fellow citizens, also to defend our networks. As you mentioned, Joe,
[11:26.720 --> 11:31.580]  most of the infrastructure belongs to private sector. So leveraging those public-private
[11:31.580 --> 11:36.560]  partnerships, especially in some of the Title 32 National Guard organizations, they can do some of
[11:36.560 --> 11:42.020]  those things. So for people who maybe have made their fortune, but maybe they want to come and
[11:42.020 --> 11:47.960]  serve, they can participate in this program. There are many requirements. For example,
[11:47.960 --> 11:52.100]  there's a background check they needed to pass to earn a top secret clearance. So that's something
[11:52.100 --> 12:00.440]  people need to keep in mind. This is something that I'm very proud to help build. So I was able
[12:00.440 --> 12:05.260]  to leverage my connections inside the National Security Agency, people in the Pentagon, Army
[12:05.260 --> 12:14.300]  staff, and other services to help bring this program to fruition. Thanks. Awesome. Thank you
[12:14.300 --> 12:21.440]  so much, Liz. Now, with the typical DEF CON attendee in mind, somebody with serious technical
[12:21.440 --> 12:27.680]  skills, but somebody who also may not have ever worked for or with the government, can you please
[12:27.680 --> 12:34.800]  talk about some of the opportunities provided by those organizations or programs that you're here
[12:34.800 --> 12:40.320]  to discuss today? And if you want to talk about some of the benefits of serving through those
[12:40.320 --> 12:50.500]  programs and some of the challenges, feel free to discuss those too. We'll get started with you,
[12:50.500 --> 12:59.460]  same order, please. Okay, I didn't want to step on anything there, Joe. So, you know, you talked
[12:59.460 --> 13:04.980]  about technical capability, and obviously, with a focus on cyber, that's something
[13:04.980 --> 13:20.480]  that's inherent in what we do in CISA. We have, as I said earlier, a lot of the work,
[13:20.480 --> 13:29.900]  how different things work, and being able to link those things together, create partnerships to
[13:31.560 --> 13:37.440]  help critical infrastructure better defend themselves is essentially one of the core
[13:37.440 --> 13:44.920]  things that we do. So, if you've got a lot of really high-priced talent, like we do,
[13:44.920 --> 13:52.720]  everything from intelligence analysts to incident responders to threat hunters who go online,
[13:52.720 --> 13:58.320]  both externally and internally, in the typical red team types, looking through
[13:59.160 --> 14:05.080]  vulnerability management processes, and all the things you might expect from a technical
[14:05.080 --> 14:11.340]  perspective. And by the way, we're hiring, and I'm going to say that probably six times today.
[14:12.160 --> 14:21.140]  There are also less technical roles that we have in CISA that revolve around things like
[14:22.220 --> 14:30.200]  governance, policy, practice, partnerships, and things like that. So, it's a combination of
[14:30.200 --> 14:37.700]  technical and non-technical with a technical sort of a slant to help us do the mission that
[14:37.700 --> 14:42.700]  we are charged with doing. And I think one of the things that's important to remember is,
[14:43.200 --> 14:49.920]  with the stand-up of the agency, we've had an opportunity to sort of reset the culture.
[14:50.080 --> 14:55.060]  And one of the big things that Director Krebs has been pushing has to do with
[14:56.580 --> 15:02.220]  personnel development. How do we develop our folks from start to finish? What opportunities
[15:02.220 --> 15:09.540]  do we provide them for training, for education, opportunities to actually practice their craft?
[15:10.000 --> 15:16.860]  We have folks that get to do really cool stuff every single day. And that's one of the great
[15:16.860 --> 15:22.480]  things about it. And if you want to encapsulate that all into one word, it's about mission.
[15:22.540 --> 15:29.320]  We have a great mission. We have some great people to work on that mission. And our objective is to
[15:29.320 --> 15:37.100]  train you, to develop you, and to help make you as professional and as solid as you can be
[15:37.600 --> 15:43.480]  to do what you're charged to do. And then work you into our structure and get on with it.
[15:43.500 --> 15:51.060]  The biggest thing, and this is a personal philosophy of mine, is train them, watch over
[15:51.060 --> 15:57.480]  them so they become good, help them develop, and then turn them loose and let them do their job.
[15:57.480 --> 16:02.980]  And I think that there's a lot of there's a lot of value in that. And by doing that, I think we
[16:02.980 --> 16:10.660]  create a cycle of development. And one thing to point out too, and I think Liz might have said
[16:10.660 --> 16:18.340]  this earlier, it relates to in government and out of government. I have no problem with people
[16:18.340 --> 16:23.600]  leaving CISA. I like to keep them. But when they go out into the private sector, or they go into
[16:23.740 --> 16:29.440]  a different federal agency, or a state and local agency for that matter, we always tell them you're
[16:29.440 --> 16:34.840]  always welcome back. Because they bring another wealth of experience with them if we provide them
[16:34.840 --> 16:43.000]  the opportunities to do that and encourage them to grow and to build on their skills. So that's
[16:43.000 --> 16:48.920]  sort of how we look at it from my perspective, particularly if we're going to point right at
[16:48.920 --> 16:59.330]  some of the typical participants at DEFCON. Well, thank you, John. And so the National Security
[16:59.330 --> 17:05.950]  Agency partners really closely with DHS and CISA. And so a lot of what John said definitely applies
[17:05.950 --> 17:12.130]  to my mission space. So to answer Joe's question, kind of, you know, what opportunities are available,
[17:12.130 --> 17:16.770]  I thought I might just mention a little bit more about what NSA does. And then I'll give you a
[17:16.770 --> 17:21.410]  couple of examples of things that you can do. The nice thing about the National Security Agency and
[17:21.410 --> 17:26.010]  the Department of Defense is that they are truly committed to lifelong learning. As we know, the
[17:26.010 --> 17:31.350]  cyber arena is so incredibly complex, changes every single day, the threats are different,
[17:31.350 --> 17:36.230]  the nation state adversaries keep using different techniques. So you have to stay, you know, very
[17:36.230 --> 17:41.270]  active in your learning. And that's on the job learning, formal training, and informal training,
[17:41.270 --> 17:45.190]  and just a lot of opportunities. That's the enterprise that I work run is the learning
[17:45.190 --> 17:52.990]  enterprise for so many intelligent, brilliant people. You know, we have PhDs will continue to,
[17:52.990 --> 17:56.710]  you know, you have to, no matter what your grade level is, in terms of your academics,
[17:56.710 --> 18:01.950]  you keep going further. So the National Security Agency is a unique asset for our country. We save
[18:01.950 --> 18:08.670]  lives, defends vital networks, and we advance U.S. goals and alliances. So we're a member of the
[18:08.670 --> 18:12.450]  Department of Defense and the intelligence community. So it makes it pretty interesting
[18:12.450 --> 18:17.730]  because your mission is so incredibly rewarding. And to mention what John said about going in and
[18:17.730 --> 18:23.350]  out of the government sector and the private sector coming back. We love that and it's valued
[18:23.350 --> 18:26.950]  and celebrated because the more talents and knowledge that you have, you're going to help us
[18:26.950 --> 18:31.450]  be better and help our country be better and really, really grow. So the National Security
[18:31.450 --> 18:36.950]  Agency is a world leader in cryptology, the art and science of making and breaking codes. And it's
[18:36.950 --> 18:41.690]  an expertise that we get from people and technology, right? It's got, we really need that people
[18:41.690 --> 18:47.090]  component. So if you find that, you know, the mission interesting, you know, definitely consider
[18:47.090 --> 18:52.690]  it. And so the reason why it makes it a little bit different is because for us to do our jobs
[18:52.690 --> 18:58.250]  well and really help our nation be strong, we need to understand what our adversaries are doing,
[18:58.250 --> 19:03.850]  what the capabilities are, and we also need to be able to communicate and exchange some of our
[19:03.850 --> 19:08.610]  information with our own allies and our senior leaders. So we need to understand what's going
[19:08.610 --> 19:13.930]  on and then also provide for secure communications. So it's pretty exciting with SIGINT and
[19:13.930 --> 19:21.090]  cybersecurity. So the opportunities are tremendous at NSA.gov. We have developmental programs.
[19:21.090 --> 19:26.230]  You'll even get, you know, you'll be paid to get to continue your education while you're going
[19:26.230 --> 19:31.050]  through it. We have tremendous opportunities for physicians. There's computer network defense
[19:31.050 --> 19:37.430]  analysts, computer network operators, capabilities development specialists. So folks that understand
[19:37.430 --> 19:43.110]  and provide real-time sensitive mission support by maintaining situational awareness of potential
[19:43.110 --> 19:48.250]  cyber threats. They leverage technical methods to manage and monitor and execute large-scale
[19:48.250 --> 19:54.450]  operations. So if you're, if that sounds remotely interesting to you, and as I said, we really just,
[19:54.450 --> 19:58.290]  we just want the best talent. If that sounds remotely interesting to you, I recommend you,
[19:58.290 --> 20:03.730]  you know, go to intelligencecareers.gov, take a look at that, and it might just be the time for
[20:03.730 --> 20:08.950]  you to take a look at it and really jump in. And what you'll find is people have a profound
[20:08.950 --> 20:15.050]  sense of contribution and service to the nation. We've had a number of incredibly brilliant people
[20:15.050 --> 20:20.090]  leave, do startups, then actually want to come back to the agency, not for the money, but because
[20:20.090 --> 20:24.970]  the mission and how incredibly rewarding it is to just be, you know, really putting Americans first.
[20:24.970 --> 20:30.690]  So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about what we do, because it's really,
[20:30.690 --> 20:42.990]  I hope you'd join us. Thank you. And yeah, so it's, USDS, I feel, is a pretty unique position.
[20:42.990 --> 20:47.610]  So as an engineer at USDS, we touch on so many different projects. There's so many different
[20:47.610 --> 20:53.450]  opportunities that we have to serve and make an impact. So I would say just to someone coming
[20:53.450 --> 21:01.450]  to USDS, there's, you really have a wide range of opportunities to find ways to make a great
[21:01.450 --> 21:08.530]  impact on the public. And some of that is very technical work. We develop and ship applications.
[21:08.530 --> 21:17.610]  We get websites working that crash. We do security audits. We, you know, we do discovery sprints
[21:17.610 --> 21:24.650]  and dig through systems and give recommendations to help an agency make improvements and make
[21:24.650 --> 21:32.250]  investments in technology. But they all have in common is a big impact, a big real-world impact
[21:32.250 --> 21:38.470]  on the public. Like the others have said, the mission is really something that is
[21:38.470 --> 21:44.330]  just hard, hard to beat. And it's also something that really resonates with me, but
[21:44.330 --> 21:49.610]  it's just everyone that we work with. We're all here because of that. We're here because we're
[21:49.610 --> 21:55.710]  we want to, we are aligned in that mission to help people. I come from the private sector. A lot of
[21:55.710 --> 22:01.550]  folks in the USDS do. And for a lot of folks, this is our first job in the private, in the public
[22:01.550 --> 22:08.170]  sector. And so, you know, I've worked around places and I've enjoyed my opportunities, but
[22:08.170 --> 22:12.450]  you know, I was looking for something more and I was looking for a way that I could use my skills
[22:12.450 --> 22:19.410]  to really do the most that I could, that really was worth spending the time and the effort to do.
[22:19.930 --> 22:25.730]  Pour my heart into all this work and to have it really be meaningful. But I would also say that,
[22:25.730 --> 22:30.430]  you know, engineers, I'm an engineer. I love engineering. I love talking about tabs and spaces
[22:30.430 --> 22:35.150]  and crypto and what language is better and which editor to use. But it's also not just about
[22:35.150 --> 22:40.110]  engineers. It's also, technology is important, but it's also about solving the right problems and
[22:40.110 --> 22:45.290]  solving in a way that actually works for people. So we're also looking for great designers. We're
[22:45.290 --> 22:52.770]  looking for great product managers, people who understand the way that technology is not a tool
[22:52.770 --> 22:59.370]  and a website is not just a tool, but it's a service that needs to be designed with the user
[22:59.370 --> 23:06.430]  in mind and designed in a way that works for them and isn't just kind of made to tick off some
[23:06.430 --> 23:12.050]  requirements or some boxes. It's got to be thought through from start to finish as an experience for
[23:12.050 --> 23:19.290]  the user that really works for them. Thanks, Chris. You know, the Marine Corps Sub-Auxiliary
[23:19.290 --> 23:24.110]  is a unique organization, right? Like some of us here, it's a volunteer organization. And what we're
[23:24.110 --> 23:28.990]  trying to do then is enhance the Marine Corps' ability to operate in cyberspace. So we recently
[23:28.990 --> 23:34.630]  came across a situation where we didn't have formally trained and designated Marines in
[23:34.630 --> 23:39.030]  cyberspace. And it's only been within the last couple of years that we've had an occupational
[23:39.030 --> 23:44.110]  field for cyberspace operations. And we've now had the first Marines cross the yellow footprints at
[23:44.110 --> 23:50.750]  boot camp, graduate and enter the field to become cyberspace operators in the Marine Corps. We've
[23:50.750 --> 23:55.330]  had people operating the Marine Corps in cyber for 30 years, of course, but we've always been
[23:55.330 --> 24:00.010]  organized somewhat differently. Now we've come together formally on the 1700 MOS field,
[24:00.010 --> 24:05.750]  and we are working together to move forward. What the Sub-Auxiliary does is it takes volunteers
[24:05.750 --> 24:11.350]  from civil service, excuse me, volunteers from the private sector, and allows people who currently
[24:11.350 --> 24:16.230]  might serve billets in civil service or augmented through contractors who perhaps previously served
[24:16.230 --> 24:20.690]  and have been honorably discharged. And it permits those people who are U.S. citizens,
[24:20.690 --> 24:25.530]  who have a minimum of three years experience in the cyber industry, who are highly regarded in
[24:25.530 --> 24:31.350]  their field, and are enthusiastic volunteers. And it takes them, brings them forward to help shape,
[24:31.350 --> 24:37.670]  to train, to educate, to advise, and to mentor the young Marines moving forward in cyber. And we'll
[24:37.670 --> 24:41.530]  talk a little bit more about some of those opportunities that have come across and where
[24:41.530 --> 24:46.830]  people have made a huge impact. Suffice it to say that the Cyber-Aux is part of that larger
[24:46.830 --> 24:52.050]  Marine Corps effort to posture our forces to operate in the information environment
[24:52.050 --> 24:59.730]  more effectively and were managed by highly qualified talent in uniform. And to wrap it
[24:59.730 --> 25:05.170]  all up, frankly, like Liz can point out, if you are interested in wearing a uniform and popping
[25:05.170 --> 25:09.850]  back in, you've got an opportunity through her program. However, if you do not need to wear a
[25:09.850 --> 25:14.730]  uniform, and if you are not particularly interested in crossing those physical security, those physical
[25:14.730 --> 25:19.110]  fitness standards of a Marine Corps, of the military, you'll still be welcome to join us
[25:19.110 --> 25:27.920]  here at the Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary. Go ahead, Liz. Thanks, Roman. So people who wish to wear a
[25:27.920 --> 25:33.320]  uniform, the Cyber Specialty Direct Commissioning Program might be for you. If it's something you've
[25:33.320 --> 25:40.140]  considered, at least consider applying. You never know when your particular skills may be in
[25:40.140 --> 25:45.420]  high demand to help your nation accomplish their goals. And if you also have a leadership,
[25:45.420 --> 25:50.580]  you know, streak, you say, yeah, I want to be a leader. I want to help coach, train, and mentor others
[25:50.580 --> 25:56.860]  and put my skills to work. Some of the skills that are in demand as of when before I retired
[25:56.860 --> 26:04.060]  are software engineers looking for data scientists, machine learning expertise, OpenStack engineers,
[26:04.060 --> 26:10.940]  ICS data expertise. I know John knows that's in high demand. AI expertise as well. So there's,
[26:10.940 --> 26:16.320]  for example, there's a whole center the DOD has built for artificial intelligence. And last I
[26:16.320 --> 26:20.600]  checked, Army was working with them to build some requirements for uniformed Army Cyber
[26:20.600 --> 26:26.520]  Warfare officers to come and work there with those folks at that joint artificial intelligence
[26:26.520 --> 26:34.680]  center. A high-impact example of one of our direct commissionees was we had a civilian who felt like
[26:34.680 --> 26:39.060]  he had made his fortune and was a prior service individual, applied for the program, and was
[26:39.060 --> 26:45.120]  accepted. One of the first two people commissioned in the program helped build the virtual persistent
[26:45.120 --> 26:51.440]  training environment for all of the Army's cyberspace operators to use. This was a program
[26:51.440 --> 26:57.500]  that had been developing for many years but was really able to kick it into high gear and apply
[26:57.500 --> 27:04.180]  their software engineering expertise and really get it built and out the door functional, fully
[27:04.180 --> 27:08.700]  operationally capable for people to use. And I think people probably, Diane at the agency, may
[27:08.700 --> 27:13.460]  also use this persistent training environment that was built. So you never know when you'll be
[27:13.460 --> 27:19.400]  able to have an impact until you try. And so I highly encourage everyone to consider serving in a
[27:19.400 --> 27:25.920]  uniform. You can find more information about the current requirements at goarmy.com forward slash
[27:25.920 --> 27:30.740]  cyber. That's the website you can go. There's a link there for the direct commissioning program
[27:30.740 --> 27:35.300]  and the current requirements should be listed there for you to review. There's also instructions
[27:35.300 --> 27:41.420]  on how to apply. So benefits of serving in a uniform. So there are many benefits I think
[27:41.420 --> 27:45.760]  for uniform service. The minimum number of years to achieve some of these benefits is
[27:46.380 --> 27:51.640]  three years and I think 90 days. So given a tour, you don't need to sign up for any longer than your
[27:51.640 --> 27:57.840]  first tour to achieve some of these. But if you're interested in say the post 9-11 GI Bill, for your
[27:57.840 --> 28:03.240]  own professional education, master's degree, this can be transferred to your children or even to
[28:03.240 --> 28:10.860]  your spouse. So that provides money for graduate level and undergraduate degree programs for them.
[28:10.860 --> 28:16.340]  Also access to a VA loan program, home loan program. So we're able to afford a home with
[28:16.540 --> 28:20.840]  a zero percent down zero down payment on the home. That's something that uniform members of
[28:20.840 --> 28:25.000]  all services have access to. That might be attractive to somebody who's interested in
[28:25.000 --> 28:31.220]  buying a home. You should also know for SARBRI Army Cyber Warfare Officers, most of our assignments
[28:31.220 --> 28:36.820]  are at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Meade, Maryland. So if you like Fort Meade and you
[28:36.820 --> 28:42.740]  like Fort Gordon, please consider Cyber Warfare might be the branch for you. We don't have many
[28:42.740 --> 28:46.960]  positions in places like say Fort Hood, Texas. That's not someplace you send people. You don't
[28:46.960 --> 28:52.720]  have to be worried about going to Antarctica or Alaska or places that, I mean, we're far from
[28:52.720 --> 28:58.660]  locations. And we also now have Army Cyber Headquarters is moving to Fort Gordon, I
[28:58.660 --> 29:04.360]  anticipate in the next year. And also Cyber Command Headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland.
[29:04.360 --> 29:07.400]  That's another place we have a lot of assignments there. But that's part of the
[29:07.400 --> 29:14.760]  requirements and there's developing locations where you can see future service. So some other
[29:14.760 --> 29:23.500]  benefits are listed at militaryonesource.mil as a website. So in lieu of listing all of them,
[29:23.500 --> 29:29.120]  I encourage you to go visit militaryonesource.mil or goarmy.com forward slash cyber to get that
[29:29.120 --> 29:33.980]  information there. And one other place you can get information if you have your pencils handy
[29:33.980 --> 29:40.760]  is to, on your phone, text the word cyberspace, one word, to 22828. And that will put you in
[29:40.760 --> 29:44.700]  contact with a recruiter at the Office of the Chief of Cyber, and they'll get in contact with
[29:44.700 --> 29:53.280]  you about opportunities to serve. Cool. That was a really great rundown, everybody. Thank you so
[29:53.280 --> 30:00.640]  much. With us running out of time, unfortunately, for this panel, I just wanted to go down the list
[30:00.640 --> 30:06.440]  one more time, see if you had any closing thoughts and words and any tangible advice
[30:06.440 --> 30:17.260]  that you'd like to share with the audience. Well, sure. Obviously, coming into government
[30:17.260 --> 30:26.360]  service has its challenges. There is a challenge, obviously, between pay in the federal government
[30:26.360 --> 30:32.380]  and other government and the private sector. There's the challenge of navigating the hiring
[30:32.380 --> 30:38.220]  process, which can be very difficult in government. There's the challenge of getting a security
[30:38.220 --> 30:44.320]  clearance if you haven't gotten one already. And if you're considering coming to work with us in
[30:44.320 --> 30:52.920]  CISA, you can help us to push the envelope on all those challenges with the idea in mind that this
[30:52.920 --> 30:57.880]  is about the mission. And if you come in with a mission focus, you're going to have some great
[30:57.880 --> 31:05.740]  success. The collateral to that, in my mind, is we are trying to take what was a headquarters
[31:05.740 --> 31:14.380]  component element, now an operational agency, and make a huge cultural change. And some of the
[31:14.380 --> 31:22.600]  things that we're pushing are innovation, speed, partnerships, and keeping it all within
[31:22.600 --> 31:30.460]  that mission focus. So if you have the desire, we're looking, we're hiring. We've got plenty
[31:30.460 --> 31:36.640]  of positions, both in the D.C. area and around the nation, where we're looking for quality
[31:36.640 --> 31:42.320]  cyber talent and people who have a mission focus. So I'll leave it at that, Joe, and I'll give it
[31:42.320 --> 31:49.860]  over to the next in line, Diane. Great, thank you, John. And I just wanted to say, you know,
[31:49.860 --> 31:54.860]  consider this opportunity for federal service if you have the remotest interest in working with
[31:54.860 --> 32:00.440]  people that are innovative and passionate, love what they do, continual learners, commitment to
[32:00.440 --> 32:05.400]  just partnering and collaborating. It's a great environment. You know, and also I wanted to
[32:05.400 --> 32:10.220]  mention for, it is a little more male-dominated, as you know, but there are professional communities
[32:10.220 --> 32:15.860]  like women in cyber security that give you a sense of community outside the workplace to really
[32:15.860 --> 32:19.560]  help you, give you the skills that you might need inside the workplace to navigate that.
[32:19.660 --> 32:30.740]  So love to see you, and thank you so much. Yeah, I would just say definitely, I never really
[32:30.740 --> 32:35.660]  thought that I would necessarily end up being a federal employee. You never really know what's
[32:35.660 --> 32:41.260]  going to happen, but you know, we, as technologists, we have a really incredible amount of power with
[32:41.260 --> 32:46.980]  the skills that we have, and government is a really great place to make a huge impact with
[32:46.980 --> 32:54.540]  that power. So USDS, we have a unique model where we do terms of service. So it doesn't
[32:54.540 --> 32:59.500]  have to be a lifelong commitment. We can do as short as like three to six months and up to four
[32:59.500 --> 33:05.860]  years. So if you want to do that and then go back to private sector, then we are very happy to have
[33:05.860 --> 33:13.640]  you and have your impact. usds.gov is our website. And if you want to see also more information
[33:13.640 --> 33:16.900]  about some of the work we do, at the bottom of the page, we have our impact report we just listed
[33:16.900 --> 33:23.300]  talking about some of the big projects that we've done in the last year, including some of the
[33:23.300 --> 33:29.660]  things that I've been lucky enough to work on. But yeah, we really are trying to break down that
[33:29.660 --> 33:34.680]  bridge, build bridges and break down those walls between private and public sector and bring the
[33:34.680 --> 33:40.040]  best of private sector technology into government and improve everything for the American people.
[33:42.580 --> 33:45.780]  Thanks, Chris. We've all heard that advice, you should bloom where you're planted. And there have been
[33:45.780 --> 33:50.380]  many, many opportunities to do that here. If you'd like to be a Marine, there is a path in cyber if
[33:50.380 --> 33:55.160]  you want to wear a uniform. If you find that you have other skills, and perhaps you've held a career
[33:55.160 --> 34:00.760]  elsewhere in life, you can still affect Marines who serve by shaping Capture the Flag exercises
[34:00.760 --> 34:05.980]  and developing other tools that might help Marines in uniform. You can also assist
[34:05.980 --> 34:10.280]  with our summer programs, helping with the young Marines and helping with those who
[34:10.280 --> 34:15.600]  provide STEM education for young people in our country who are then shaped to serve themselves
[34:15.600 --> 34:20.260]  better through a cyber career path. As you move forward, one thing that I'd like to leave you with
[34:20.260 --> 34:25.900]  is you could follow us on LinkedIn, and you can help to serve wherever you are in the nation today
[34:25.900 --> 34:30.540]  without having to wear a uniform, but with having your heart in the right place. And that brings us
[34:30.540 --> 34:43.620]  to Liz. Thanks, Roman. So the things to keep in mind with uniform service that may not be as
[34:43.620 --> 34:50.280]  comfortable is the physical training requirements. So if you're not familiar with some of the
[34:50.860 --> 34:56.540]  requirements for the different services, in particular my experience with the Army,
[34:56.540 --> 35:01.620]  you can find that on GoArmy.com. So the physical fitness test, you'll need to take that twice a
[35:01.620 --> 35:08.000]  year, and then you'll need to be able to pass those standards to pass your basic school. So that's
[35:08.000 --> 35:15.140]  really very important to understand. And also keep in mind that you're a technologist, like as
[35:15.140 --> 35:20.620]  Chris was describing, you know, a technologist focused, but you're also a leader. So and you'll
[35:20.620 --> 35:29.100]  be a leader of soldiers in the Army, in the Air Force. I understand it started as a community
[35:29.100 --> 35:42.570]  program as well. Great. Well, thank you very much, Liz, and everybody on the panel, and Kathleen,
[35:42.570 --> 35:47.370]  and also Travis, and the other folks behind the scenes. The only things that I'm going to leave
[35:47.370 --> 35:56.090]  you with is a reminder about USAjobs.gov, which is a huge database of a lot of opportunities for
[35:56.090 --> 36:02.950]  employment across the U.S. government. And also because I didn't mention it earlier, as a disclaimer,
[36:02.950 --> 36:09.310]  everybody's opinions expressed in this panel were their own and not necessarily those of any
[36:09.310 --> 36:14.270]  government entity. And with that, I'm going to hand it back over to Kathleen. Thank you so much,
[36:14.270 --> 36:21.390]  everybody. So great panel, everyone. Thank you so much. I know that you opened everyone's eyes to
[36:21.390 --> 36:27.750]  new opportunities for their careers. I want the audience to know that also within the career
[36:27.750 --> 36:34.270]  coaches, we do have at least 40 percent of the career coaches have had some kind of government
[36:34.270 --> 36:38.970]  service or military service, so they are open to be able to provide you their perspectives
[36:39.490 --> 36:45.510]  and their tips on how to fulfill your career within national service. We also do have resume
[36:45.510 --> 36:51.190]  reviewers, recruiters who are familiar with recruiting for federal agencies and for government
[36:51.190 --> 36:56.330]  contractors. Thank you so much, everyone, and thank you to all of our panelists. We'll see you for the
[36:56.330 --> 36:57.230]  next session.