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id you know that
Fort Gordon is the
proud home to the
U.S. Army Cyber
Center of Excellence and host to a
multi-service community of Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space
Force and multinational forces that
has become a center for joint forces
activities, training and operations?
This Army installation, established
southwest of Augusta in 1941, is
also the current home of the United
States Army Signal Corps, United
States Army Cyber Command and
the Cyber Center of Excellence.
It was in March 2020 when the
Army Cyber Command relocated
from Virginia to a new home in
Fortitude Hall, co-joined with the
Georgia headquarters of the National Security Agency. It is significant
that the co-location of the Army
Cyber operational headquarters,
with its institutional Schoolhouse
for Cyber Warriors, affords unique
opportunities to enrich institutional
courses and training with operational experience and real-world
lessons. Indeed, with the establishment of the Army Cyber Corps and
relocation of the Army Cyber command, Fort Gordon has experienced
a transition from its focus on institutional training to becoming a 24/7
operational installation. Some of
those operational units include: the
Cyber Military Intelligence Group,
the Information Warfare Operations
Center and the Joint Mission Operations Center-Georgia.
The Alliance for Fort Gordon
Some will remember that during
the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, Fort Gordon
was added to the BRAC list for evaluation. It naturally was a shock to
the entire greater Augusta region,
as well as to the entire state. At the
insistence of regional community
leaders and a longtime friend to
the military, the late Congressman
Charlie Norwood, the Alliance for
Fort Gordon was created to combat
any possible realignment or closure
of the Army post.
The Alliance is unique because it represents a partnership
between Fort Gordon and the two
states and seven counties that
surround the installation: Georgia
and South Carolina and Columbia,
McDuffie, Burke, Richmond, Lincoln, Edgefield and Aiken Counties.
The Alliance consolidated resources and worked to create community awareness regarding the
importance of Fort Gordon and the
impact of downsizing or closure.
The Alliance even hired consultants in Washington, D.C. to help
tell the Augusta/Ft Gordon story to
senior congressional and military
leaders— with an assist from visits
by those leaders to the Greater Augusta Region. The Alliance also released numerous studies conducted to identify community strengths
and weaknesses that were likely to
impact BRAC evaluations.
The bottom line: When the
BRAC list was finalized in 2005 and
Fort Gordon was not affected, the
CSRA Alliance transformed its focus to serving primarily as a liaison
between the community and our
military partners on Fort Gordon.
Tomorrow’s STEM Workforce
In this context, The Fort Gordon
Cyber District/Alliance for Cyber
Education was created in 2005.
The Alliance has members from all
seven school districts and three private schools within the Fort Gordon
Metropolitan Statistical Area. This
committee meets at least quarterly
to discuss implementation strategies for multiple K-12 Cyber education programs. The Fort Gordon
Cyber District/Alliance for Cyber
Education (ACE) was also created
to facilitate the collaboration of industry, military and academia with
the mission of growing a supply of
skilled workers.
As a significant national security asset, one of the primary missions of Fort Gordon and the Cyber
Center of Excellence is the life cycle management and sustainment
of a cyber workforce to run the Army’s Cyber Power Projection Platform. Given the complex technology of today’s Army cyber weapon
systems, the mission success for
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