Pentagon seeks high-tech skills to counter militants

A decade ago, he was a young Army soldier training Iraqi troops when he noticed their primitive filing system: handwritten notes threaded with different colors of yarn, stacked in piles. For organization’s sake, he built them a simple computer database.

Now an Army reservist, the major is taking a break from his civilian high-tech job to help America’s technological fight against Islamic State group. He’s part of a growing force of experts the Pentagon has assembled to defeat the extremists.

“The ability to participate in some way in a real mission, that is actually something that’s rare, that you can’t find in private sector,” said the 38-year-old Nebraska native who is working at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md. “You’re part of a larger team putting your skills to use, not just optimizing clicks for a digital ad, but optimizing the ability to counter (Islamic State) or contribute to the security of our nation.”

Last year, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed frustration that the United States was losing the cyberwar against the militants. He pushed the Cyber Command to be more aggressive. In response, the Pentagon undertook an effort to incorporate cybertechnology into its daily military fight, including new ways to disrupt the enemy’s communications, recruiting, fundraising and propaganda.

To speak with someone at the front lines of this campaign, the Associated Press agreed to withhold the major’s name. The military says he could be threatened or targeted by the militants if he is identified publicly. The major and other officials wouldn’t provide precise details on the highly classified work he is doing.

But Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, said the major is bringing new expertise for identifying enemy networks, pinpointing system administrators or developers, and potentially monitoring Islamic State’s online traffic moves.

He “has the ability to bring an analytic focus of what the threat is doing, coupled with a really deep understanding of how networks run,” Nakasone said, describing such contributions as “really helpful for us.” He outlined a key question for the military: “How do you impact an adversary that’s using cyberspace against us?”

The military is looking for new ways to bring in more civilians with hightech skills who can help against the militants and prepare for the new range of technological threats the nation will face. Nakasone said that means getting Guard and Reserve members with technical expertise in digital forensics, math crypto-analysis and writing computer code. The challenge is how to find them.

“I would like to say it’s this great database that we have, that we’ve been able to plug in and say, ‘Show me the best tool developers and analysts that you have out there,’” Nakasone said. “We don’t have that yet.”

The Army has been steadily building cyber mission teams, as part of a broader Defense Department undertaking.

“How do you impact an adversary that’s using cyberspace against us?” Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command