The Department of Defence has advertised for a Defence Forces civilian cyber defence lead as part of a plan to significantly expand its cyber capabilities.
The job is an aspect of the Government’s commitment to implement the second (LOA2) of three investment options outlined in the Commission on the Defence Forces.
The report was published in February 2022 and the Government agreed to the second option that July.
In addition to commitments to increase budgets and staffing, as well as a primary radar and more navy vessels, LOA2 also envisages “significantly strengthening” the cyber defence capabilities.
Central to this is the creation of a Joint Cyber Defence Command (JCDC), which will be headed by a military commander, at the rank of general.
The civilian lead will “report directly” to the commander in the new structure.
The first step in the creation of the JCDC is the establishment of a Joint Cyber Operations Unit, which will have three sections: Cyberspace plans; cyberspace operations, and cyberspace resilience.
The lead will be responsible for the civilian staff in the unit and host relevant meetings, with the advertisement stating that the cyber teams will be “rapidly growing” in the coming years.
The person will have a key role in developing policy and in conducting assessments and analysis.
He or she will also be engaging with national and international agencies.
The commission stressed the importance of the new section working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre and An Garda Síochána.
It said it would also need to work with the National Security Analysis Centre, which is located in the Department of the Taoiseach, given the “strong interdependences and overlapping nature” of some taskings and challenges in the cyber domain.
Under LOA2, the commission recommends that “100 additional, specialist personnel” be placed in the JCDC, though it did accept this may take five to 10 years to implement.
It said that in “some comparator military organisations”, cyber staffing levels can constitute 5% of all military personnel, with minimum numbers in the range of 100-400 personnel.
The advertisement said that “essential” qualifications for the civilian lead include relevant computer or cyber qualifications and at least five years’ management experience in cyber or IT.

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