The Department of Defense is opening a new office in an unexpected location – Silicon Valley. The office opening may come as a surprise – Silicon Valley and the U.S. Government haven’t exactly been on friendly terms since Edward Snowden’s classified data dump on NSA activities – including ones that involved tapping into data from some key California companies.
The new office was announced during a recent visit to Silicon Valley by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. He used the visit as an opportunity to unveil several new initiatives including a new cybersecurity strategy (another day, another government agency announces a cyber strategy). It has been described as a ‘hearts and minds’ campaign to win over the technical talent of Silicon Valley. (I can’t help but think of a former Marine Corps instructor at the Defense Information School in Fort Meade who once told me the Marine Corps interpretation – ‘two in the heart, one in the mind.’ Only this time Uncle Sam is gunning for your servers).
The Pentagon’s cyber hiring headache
In addition to unveiling the Pentagon’s new cyber strategy and announcing the new office, Carter met with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and several Silicon Valley start-ups. A central theme in the announcements is the need to share information about threats, but it’s clear the government is looking to share talent. The U.S. government is going on several years of a severe cyber talent shortage. A recent Booz Allen report found that cyber professionals typically leave within five years – often for double-the-pay at Silicon Valley firms. Government cyber careers still face an image problem. The tech may be cool, but many cyber professionals can’t quite see themselves putting on a polo every day and going to work in a government office, supporting a mission they’re unsure of.
So far, the Silicon Valley press sees a lack of transparency as a critical issue with the Pentagon’s new strategy.
“While these statements represent a rare acknowledgement that the government has and will continue to engage in cyberwarfare and cyber offensive operations, it falls short of being transparent. All of the most controversial aspects of the government’s cyberwarfare activities have been left unaddressed,” noted Wired.com’s Kim Zetter.
Therein lines a critical problem – how transparent can we really expect the government to be when we’re dealing with classified cybersecurity information? Even creating information sharing arrangements within the key government contracting firms has been a struggle. Enter a group of tech professionals who are more likely to have a medical marijuana license than a security clearance and you have a whole different set of problems.
Just saying no to a security clearance
A March CNBC report noted the push-back by Silicon Valley firms against the security clearance process – a process they find both invasive and impossibly slow (much like the government hiring process itself). It also found that many firms deliberately limit the number of cleared staff they have on board in an effort to minimize any expectation they’ll be sharing their information with the government. Several Silicon Valley firms refused to say if they had cleared personnel. Facebook, Twitter, Cisco, Twitter and Apple (learn more about Steve Jobs’ security clearance investigation here) are among the firms who do have cleared executives.
It is hard to picture a SCIF inside the Facebook headquarters but it shouldn’t be hard to picture a scenario where Silicon Valley and the Department of Defense are working in close cooperation. It’s no secret that many of the biggest tech innovations had their start in the government, with some geek with a security clearance. But if trust is the cornerstone of a good marriage, DoD and Silicon Valley seem more like a hook-up than a real relationship. And you can guess who’s got the commitment issues. If Carter has his way, easier on and off-boarding, better engagement of active duty service members, and a new office in the neighborhood are critical efforts to getting the California start-up set to step up to the table. His next hurdle will be to actually get the Silicon Valley personnel cleared – the number of new clearances was reduced by 14 percent last year, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence noted that changes to security clearance procedures mean a lengthier processing time for new clearances.
