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Cybersecurity as a Catalyst For Economic Growth


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former associate director of U.S. national intelligence Patrick Gorman

"It's going to take us probably five or 10 years to really develop the cadre we're going to need if we are going to have a secure cyber space," says Patrick Gorman of Booz Allen Hamilton.

Credit: BankInfoSecurity.com

Patrick Gorman, former associate director of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, says the United States should apply the lessons of the space race to the investment of resources into educating and training a cohort of cybersecurity professionals. "If we put more emphasis into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] . . . we're going to get benefits that are not related to cybersecurity," Gorman says. "This is a larger opportunity. Not only solve the cybersecurity issue, but I think we build up a foundation that is really going to provide the economic growth force into the 2020's."

Gorman says the first step is determining how many STEM graduates are needed to facilitate cybersecurity, and then provide federal funding for a scholarship program while adding to existing programs through the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense's Information Assurance Scholarship program.

Gorman speculates that developing the cadre of professionals needed to secure cyberspace will probably take five or 10 years. He emphasizes that reaching out to high-schoolers to get them interested in the skills that the cybersecurity workforce will require is one of the most pressing issues.

From GovInfoSecurity.com
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