Big Cyber Upgrade coming for Fort Gordon
From: The Augusta Chronicle, Wesley Brown, staff writer.
Augusta is on the brink of becoming a “city of transformation and innovation.”
The five-year project, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, will include construction of a Cyber Command headquarters, creation of a Cyber Center of Excellence and formation of a Cyber Mission Unit.
By 2019, the Army projects it will add 2,600 military, 900 civilian and 200 contractor jobs
to Fort Gordon’s workforce, and boost the post’s student population by about 500 service members annually.
Though the command is not expected to move to Fort Gordon until 2019, 50 soldiers are expected to move to the area this summer to begin the groundwork for a new joint-force headquarters, said Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, commanding general of the Army Cyber Command.
Cardon said when the Cyber Command is complete, it will work in conjunction with the National Security Agency’s Fort Gordon complex, which is expected to house the unit’s new, 179,000-square-foot headquarters.
“These decisions to co-locate the Army’s operational and institutional cyber organizations with National Security Agency-Georgia will create tremendous synergy through closer collaboration and coordination,” Cardon said.
He said the Army Cyber Command is currently in recruiting mode, looking for the right people to protect the one billion who log on daily.
Cardon said 30 percent of the Army Cyber Command’s workforce will be civilians, and help keep pace with new technology.
“This is good news for our Army and good news for Army Cyber Command,” he said.
