From The Hill
Feds face big obstacle in cyber efforts: Geography
Bu Joe Uchill
There’s a major overlooked challenge in the government’s struggle to shore up its cybersecurity, experts say: the location of the nation’s capital.
Most of the federal government’s cybersecurity operations are run out of Washington, D.C., far from the technology hubs of California, Texas and Massachusetts, where many tech professionals live and work. But, say experts, those hubs may be the secret to meeting a growing shortage in the federal information technology workforce.
“People underestimate the civic-mindedness of [Silicon] Valley,” said Betsy Cooper, the executive director of the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Long Term Cybersecurity (CLTC).
Cooper previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of General Counsel but teleworked to avoid uprooting her husband from a California job. ...
Cooper, CLTC faculty director Steven Weber and Jesse Goldhammer, associate dean of Berkeley’s School of Information, submitted testimony to Hurd’s subcommittee. They suggested that restricting the cyber workforce to the D.C. area is contributing to the government’s staff shortage.
“People talk about the knowledge ecosystem in Silicon Valley, being able to participate in cutting-edge thinking in the field,” Weber told The Hill. “Most engineers will tell you that it would be impossible to leave.”...