What's The NSA Doing Now? Training More Cyberwarriors

hide captionComputer hacking experts from the National Security Agency and various branches of the U.S. armed services try to break into remote networks set up by competing U.S. military service academies. The hackers' war room is in a building in Columbia, Md., owned by Parsons, a U.S. defense contractor.

Computer hacking experts from the National Security Agency and various branches of the U.S. armed services try to break into remote networks set up by competing U.S. military service academies. The hackers' war room is in a building in Columbia, Md., owned by Parsons, a U.S. defense contractor.

The U.S. needs more cyberwarriors, and it needs them fast, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. He plans to more than triple the size of the Pentagon's Cyber Command over the next two years.

But where will they come from? These are not the kind of skills you can teach in basic training.

Enter the embattled National Security Agency. Its new director, Adm. Michael Rogers, also directs the Cyber Command. Ten miles down the road from the NSA, at a defense contractor's office in Columbia, Md., the NSA recently held a live-fire cyberwarfare exercise aimed at developing more cyberwarriors.

In a long room at the facility, big speakers pump electro house music. Several dozen people, many in military uniforms, cluster around computer stations. Hovering above them is the image of a skull and bones a big Jolly Roger pirate flag.

This is a roomful of break-in artists people who are experts at hacking into other people's computers.

hide captionU.S. Naval Academy midshipmen taking part in the cyber exercise check to see if their computer network has been hacked by the NSA's red-cell team.

U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen taking part in the cyber exercise check to see if their computer network has been hacked by the NSA's red-cell team.

Marine Capt. Robert Johnston leads what he calls a reconnaissance and initial access team.

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What's The NSA Doing Now? Training More Cyberwarriors