Cyberspace officers get their wings
The Air Force has transferred about 3,000 communications officers to new positions as cyberspace officers, reports Bruce Rolfsen at Air Force Times.
The Air Force has transferred about 3,000 communications officers to new positions as cyberspace officers, reports Bruce Rolfsen at Air Force Times.
This raises the total of Air Force personnel officially transferred to the front lines of cyber operations over the past six months to about 30,000. In November, 27,000 enlisted airmen moved into the cyber force.
The Air Force Specialty Code for officers is now 17D, whereas before it was 33S. For enlisted personnel, the 2E, 3A and 3C AFSCs have been merged into the 3DX category. Those positions were primarily communications and electronic maintenance jobs.
The officers moving to 17D now face more daunting educational requirements and the expectation that they will view their job as operational support rather than strictly mission support.
Previously, communications officers attended to such duties as maintaining base computer networks. However, now they will become point persons for how a network might support and improve warfighting capabilities.
The transformation is part of the service’s continuing development of cyberspace operations, which includes the merging of computer system operations and network warfare functions under the Space Command’s 24th Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
For the present, most of the officers have the 17D designator. But in the future some might be given the 17A designator for their focus on cyberspace defense, Air Force officials said.
In April, the Air Force issued a cyberspace badge for cyberspace officers designed to underscore the crucial operational nature of the mission.