Warrant officers should be the next cyber operators

Abstract

Our proposal is straight forward.

There is too much turnover among non-commissioned officer (NCO)/enlisted cyber operators to match the expanding need for a highly qualified and technically cognizant cyber force. But there are lessons to be learned from other military career fields, which there is a high educational and technical investment upfront (Think of Army aviation or the medical field.) We propose that the cyber force, instead of relying on NCO/enlisted operators, replace these positions with warrant officers with a longer initial time commitment, higher return on the initial investment, and the potential for consolidating organizational knowledge in a more mission effective way.