LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- Career field managers and functional area managers within the Total Force cyber community gathered at the 189th Airlift Wing Nov. 19 - 20, 2019, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The group collaborated over the course of several days to develop a training plan, establish new expectations of students and instructors, improve the mission defense team training plan and incorporate the developments into a new cyber Air Force specialty code. The new AFSC, 1D7, is expected to become an operational AFSC, separate from the communications career field.
The new training outline drives a more relevant curriculum for the cyber community, especially for mission defense teams. The planning committee discussed issues such as how pipeline training will be conducted and how follow-on training will fit into the schedule. Some cyber fundamentals such as networking, LINUX, operating system comprehension, and others will continue to be a requirement for both the 3D and proposed 1D career field.
The committee met at the 189 AW to ensure the instructors and members of the 223rd Cyberspace Operations Squadron knew exactly what to expect once all conclusions were met. Knowing where to begin with pipeline MDT students is crucial to successful follow-on training for all levels of cyber defense. The facilitation of the training planning team ensured the cyber defenders a first-hand account of what to expect in the future for the cyber community.
“We need to know where they end so we know where to start,” said Lt. Col. Eroica Waggoner, the 223 COS commander. “They have the first part of training so we need to know what they’re teaching them before they show up here. We need to make sure that all the people coming through here have the required fundamental training so we can effectively train them further.”
Mission defense teams are vital to the Total Force mission. Air Force MDT’s are at the tactical edge of weapons systems platform defense. MDT’s provide an inherent cyber risk assessment to each weapon system's mission operation and provide mitigation capabilities and coordination efforts to obtain the required level of mission assurance for their assigned weapon system. MDT’s perform five core functions:
Identify - Develop the organizational understanding to manage cybersecurity risk to systems, assets, data, and capabilities.
Protect - Develop and implement the appropriate safeguards to ensure the delivery of critical infrastructure services.
Detect - Develop and implement the appropriate activities to identify the occurrence of a cybersecurity event.
Respond - Develop and Implement the appropriate activities to take action regarding a detected cybersecurity event.
Recover - Develop and implement the appropriate activities to maintain plans for resilience and to restore any capabilities or services that were impaired due to a cybersecurity event.
“The proposed 1D7 AFSC will drive a more relevant curriculum,” Waggoner said. “We’re preparing to facilitate approximately 560 students this fiscal year as well as training 84 MDT’s across the Air Force. This will make it a more streamlined effort.”