The DoD CSA (formerly the DoD Cyber Scholarship Program) is both a scholarship program for the DoD, and a capacity building tool for the nation. The program is a result of commitment from DoD and Congress to support higher education as a means to prepare the DoD workforce to deal with threats against the Department’s critical information system and networks.
Given our increasing reliance on cybersecurity, information technology (IT), the growing threats to information, and information systems and infrastructures, it is critical that the Department of Defense (DoD) protect itself. To do so, the DoD must be staffed with technically savvy personnel. To help achieve this task, the DoD Cyber Service Academy (DoD CSA) was established. The DoD CSA is sponsored by the DoD Chief Information Office and administered by the National Security Agency (NSA). The objectives of the program are to promote higher education in all disciplines of cybersecurity, to enhance the Department’s ability to recruit and retain cyber and IT specialists, to increase the number of military and civilian personnel in the DoD with this expertise, and ultimately, to enhance the nation’s cyber posture.
As a recruitment tool, the DoD CSA sponsors students who currently are not DoD or government employees who are enrolled in or applying to universities designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. Following graduation, students are eligible for full-time employment with various components and agencies across the DoD. Students are required to work for the DoD a minimum of one year for each year of scholarship support they receive.
The DoD CSA supports DoD civilians, military officers, and enlisted personnel who pursue Master’s and Doctoral degrees in cyber-related fields of study. Typically, these retention students attend a DoD school designated as a CAE and, depending on the program, may finish their graduate degree at a partnering university. For DoD civilian and military personnel, the service commitment following graduation is determined by their sponsoring component organization. Retention student also have an opportunity to pursue a two-year community college degree or certificate.
Capacity building grants, awarded in tandem with scholarship awards, strengthen a school’s capacity for cybersecurity research and education in cyber-related disciplines. The DoD CIO has established two focus areas for institutions to focus their cyber-related projects:
The DoD Cyber Exchange is sponsored by
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
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