Cyber Professionals in the Military and Industry-Partnering in Defense of the Nation: A Conversation between Maj Gen Suzanne Vautrinot, Commander, Twenty-Fourth Air Force, and Mr. Charles Beard, Chief Information Officer, Science Applications Internationa

摘要

A strategic discussion on cyber is no longer an academic dialogue, and the associated technology is no longer the realm of industry or government development labs. The 'defense' in the cyber domain is a national imperative; increasingly complex challenges force industrial and governmental seniors to expand collaborative efforts to address these challenges. Corporations across the globe are leveraging the cyber domain to deliver goods and services more quickly and cheaply while balancing the need to protect the personal information that customers entrust to them. Likewise, military commanders increasingly rely on integrated cyber capabilities to command and control and generate effects on the battlefield, both kinetic and nonkinetic. Safeguarding critical data, while allowing immediate access without interception or manipulation, is the key to mission success. On 7 November 2012, two of our nation's senior cyber leaders, Maj Gen Suzanne Vautrinot, commander of Twenty- Fourth Air Force and Air Forces Cyber, and Mr. Charles Beard, chief information officer and senior vice president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) sat down for a conversation. During this discussion, Mr. Beard recounted a journey of his efforts to reduce his company's cyber-attack surface and create a corporate environment resulting in a single enterprise information technology (IT) solution, and Major General Vautrinot not only articulated similarities in the Air Force's venture to defend the nation in cyberspace but also focused on how both the Air Force and industry can apply the lessons learned from successes like SAIC's migration as they continue to move toward a more homogeneous cybersecurity posture.