Commanders, Navy Fleet Cyber and Marine Cyberspace Command Deliver Virtual Cyber Lecture; Present Impact Award to Midshipman
POSTED ON: Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:17 PM by mediarelations@usna.edu
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The United States Naval Academy (USNA) hosted Vice Adm. Timothy White, commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet, and Maj. Gen. Matthew Glavy, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, for the first, fully virtual “Cyber Fireside Chat” April 15.
This was the third large-scale cyber lecture of the 2019-2020 academic year presented by the USNA Center for Cyber Security Studies. The lecture engaged over 1,300 midshipmen studying within the Cyber Operations major or taking one of the two mandatory cyber education courses required of all midshipmen at USNA.
Midshipmen from across the brigade and from all year groups sent in questions, allowing White and Glavy, both USNA alumni, to discuss the key themes relevant to the future naval officer corps. Topics spanned a wide range; from current events, such as the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Department of Defense cyber landscape, to the recruitment, retention, training, and advancement of junior officers and enlisted personnel in the cyberspace community.
White discussed the importance of the U.S. 10th Fleet mission, and how the Navy prides itself on being a global force requiring 10th Fleet support every Combatant Command, in every time zone, and every geographic location we operate in.
“It is a global mission which requires persistent presence and a ready posture,” White said. “It’s difficult to gain a true sense of global operations when changing the paradigm of time-space from days to milliseconds, which is the rate information travels in cyberspace.”
He commended the midshipmen for their creativity, energy, positive and constructive leadership, and ability to think critically and creatively to find and solve problems.
Further tying the mission of the Naval Academy to the future success of U.S. 10th Fleet and MARFORCYBER and the global mission they have been given, Glavy noted the mantra of MARFORCYBER as “people, ideas, things … in that order”.
Even within the highly technical arena of cyberspace, it tends to be the people vice the things that lead to success, Glavy said.
Glavy then recognized Midshipman 1st Class Ally Annick for her direct contributions to MARFORCYBER during her summer internship in June 2019, by awarding her the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for having “in a mere five-week period displayed veteran understanding of cyberspace operations, comprising of rigorous intelligence production and demanding operational planning”.
“It was an incredible opportunity to work with MARFORCYBER. I am honored to be recognized, but it truly could have been any of my fellow interns,” said Annick. “I’m thankful to the Naval Academy, specifically the faculty and staff in the Cyber Operations major for preparing me to contribute to the cyberspace mission.”
Retired Navy Capt. Paul Tortora, director of the Center for Cyber Security Studies at the Naval Academy stated, “The Naval Academy seeks to have several of these types of high level lectures each semester to augment classroom cyber security studies with perspectives from key leaders from government, military, industry and academia in the cyber security field, and what better way to conduct such a lecture than virtually.”
As the college of our country's naval services, the Naval Academy prepares young men and women to become professional officers of competence, character, and compassion in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. If interested in the Navy’s Information Warfare Community or Marine Corps’ Cyberspace Officer program please reach out to Major David A. Serrano at serrano@usna.edu.
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