By Meg Mirshak

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle (MCT)

Published: October 24, 2014

The director of the National Security Agency said Thursday that the nations security rests on breaking down barriers between private and government sectors specializing in cyber defense.

Adm. Michael Rogers, also the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said the government alone cant protect the nations cyber infrastructure. Private industries must share their innovations, breakthroughs, needs and challenges with the NSA, and vice versa, he said.

Another challenge for us is, traditionally, in our structure as a nation, we have tried to very strongly differentiate between what is a private sector function, what is a governmental function and what is a function that really falls under national security. I would argue cyber crosses all three of those lines, Rogers said.

Rogers was the keynote speaker at the Cyber Education Summit at Georgia Regents University. More than 500 military leaders, educators, industry representatives and others convened at the J. Harold Harrison Education Commons Building.

The event aimed to educate university leaders and the community on the need for developing innovative partnerships and curriculums in cyber fields to educate the future workforce.

U.S. Cyber Command is assembling a 6,200-person workforce, some of whom will be located at Fort Gordon, where the Army Cyber Command is relocating its headquarters from the Washington, D.C., area. Fort Gordon also houses an NSA facility that employs thousands of cyber intelligence workers.

The growing workforce demands improvements to educational initiatives, Rogers said. Cyber training needs to begin in elementary and high school to ready students for post-secondary degrees.

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NSA director speaks about private, government partnerships