Photo By Steven Stover | Master Sgt. Amanda Draeger, Cyber Operations Non-Commissioned Officer (military...... read more read more
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Hometown: West Bend, Wisc.
Military Occupational Specialty: Cyber Operations Specialist (17C)
Duty position: Joint Mission Operations Center Noncommissioned Officer-In-Charge, 780th Military Intelligence Brigade (Cyber), Fort George G. Meade, Md.
QUICK SKETCH:
-- Enlisted as an Information Technology Specialist (MOS 25B), later transitioned to be a Cyber Network Defender (MOS 25D), and then converted to her current MOS one year it was introduced her position.
-- Has a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology with Security Emphasis and expects to complete her master’s degree in Information Security Engineering in 2019.
-- Recently earned her GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification from the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) organization. Approximately 250 people are GSE certified. The master sergeant is one of only four women, and one of just 15 DoD military and civilian members worldwide, who are certified.
-- Serves as NCO-In-Charge of the brigade’s Joint Mission Operations Center, a major hub for Army and joint cyberspace operations.
ON WHY SHE CHOSE THE ARMY:
“I joined the Army primarily because I needed a job. I’ve always been interested in computers, but between the fact that my rural school didn’t have much beyond ‘how to use computers’ and there was no plan for funding college, finding skilled work was hard. So I saw the Army as way to get some formal training, get a resume started, and get some money I could use for college. I succeeded at all of those goals and found out that I get along pretty well with the Army, so I’ve hung around.”
ON WHY SHE CHOSE ARMY CYBER:
“I ‘grew up’ in the Army Signal Corps. I learned that we are extremely good at making systems work, even when we don’t have all of the ideal resources. However, we have historically been less good at ‘architecting’ systems that are resilient, that are easily defensible, and ensuring that the people maintaining those systems have enough understanding to make them work better. Being part of the Cyber workforce means being in a position to improve the foxhole, to help the force as whole to get better at their jobs, and to develop deeper expertise that I wasn’t able to get while I was Signal.”
ON WHAT SHE WOULD TELL SOMEONE CONSIDERING ARMY CYBER:
“Be prepared for both excitement and terror. It’s exciting because you get to shape the future and build something from scratch, which is an opportunity you don’t get very often. It’s terrifying because it is up to you to shape the future, and you have to build things from scratch.
“Infosec (Information Security) is a huge, huge world. There are a ton of different areas that you can specialize in, from forensics, to malware analysis, to the intricacies of (Industrial Control Systems/Supervisory Control and Dada Acquistion) environments. ... If you’re interested, there’s a place for you. Don’t be scared off by all the technical stuff. That’s the easy part. If you want to learn; if you want to solve real-world problems; I can teach you the technical parts, regardless of your background. If you enjoy being a perpetual student, Infosec is some of the most fun you can have.”
ON WHAT CERTIFICATION MEANS:
“I have the ability to not just execute technical tasks, but I understand what is actually going on under the hood, and I’m able to communicate that to both a technical audience and a managerial audience. It is that particular combination of requirements that makes the GSE so difficult, and so respected. I’m not going to say that being a GSE is a cure for impostor syndrome, but it certainly helps.”
ON HER FUTURE GOALS:
“My immediate goal is finishing out my master’s. Given that I come from a family where the most educated person has an associate’s degree, that alone is a huge accomplishment. As far as the overall arc of my career, I see a critical gap in people that are both highly technical and able to talk policy and strategy. If we are going to have legal and policy support for what we do, we need to be able to communicate our needs with the people who create the way ahead.”
ON HER FAVORITE QUOTE:
“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything” – Darrell Huff (How to Lie with Statistics) (also attributed to Ronald H. Coase) “This is a really good reminder to anyone performing analysis to not force one’s biases on the data.”
For information on uniformed Army Cyber careers, go to www.goarmy.com/army-cyber.html
For information on Army cyber civilian career opportunities, select the “Careers” menu at www.arcyber.army.mil
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ABOUT US: United States Army Cyber Command directs and conducts integrated electronic warfare, information and cyberspace operations as authorized, or directed, to ensure freedom of action in and through cyberspace and the information environment, and to deny the same to our adversaries.
| Date Taken: | 12.03.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.03.2018 17:03 |
| Story ID: | 302085 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 1,355 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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