Does the government have to run it?

“The House of Representatives approve Cyber security funding increase” or so it goes… According to an article in Homelandsecuritynewswire.com (Jan 20, 2014) the congress has allocated $447 million of our tax dollars to the Defense Department Cyber command unit.  I have mixed feelings about this only because I know the government can’t seem to run anything correctly and even efficiently.  So I look at the $447 million number and double it because, well… It isn’t their money it’s ours so they will once again spend like tomorrow was never coming and waste most of it.  To be clear, I do think that it is a good idea to have a centralized department to maintain our nation’s cyber security but can’t we partner with private firms to do this for the government?  In my opinion, having a private firm run this program would save US the tax payer more than if good ol Uncle Sam did it instead.  OK, my fiscal conservative side is showing I’ll back off…. According to the article, “The funding jump is mostly attributed to the growth of cyber mission forces, Pentagon officials told Nextgov on Tuesday.  In March 2013, about 834 active duty military and civilian personnel were on staff, Cyber Command chief Gen.  Keith Alexander told lawmakers at the time. The goal is to grow cyber forces by 2,000 personnel annually, until 2016.”  This looks to me that our government is starting to shift their collective focus on the nations cyber safety and cyber defenses instead of the conventional theaters of war we have been pursuing over the last several years, especially since the number of cyber incidents has almost doubled over the past few years.  I will say, this statement is a good thing for folks like me who are going to school just for this reason.  Our talents will be in high demand and very marketable… Now the Capitalist in me comes out.

Parting shot:

Our nation is under attack by a people who we cannot see, have really no idea where they are or really what they want until they strike.  It is our nations interest to find the best and brightest stars in this area and put them to work thwarting the onslaught of the advancing hoards of hackers and Hacktivists, etc. I just have an uneasy feeling when the government is the one in charge of the program.  It seems like the “C” students always seem to run things.

References:

House approves $447 for Cyber Command. (Jan, 2014) homelandsecuritynewswire.com

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20140120-house-approves-447-for-cyber-command