The digital world is a primitive one, according to the general who runs the Illinois National Guard.
“We’re in the biplane era of cyber,” said Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, the state’s adjutant general. “We’re in the early years. Funding, policy, infrastructure that we need in the National Guard is all missing at this point. We’re all on a journey here as we grow. Much like we need large trucks in every state to support those states in their homeland response capability, we need cyber-capability, and we need robust structure that we can build around.”
The Guard, Neely adds, is ever recruiting.
“The interest to do something very unique in the military is a big draw for us.” he said. “You know, they may be a truck driver (for the Guard) but during the week they may actually work at Microsoft.”
Neely was part of a cybersecurity roundtable Friday.