Cyber Corps Program Trains Spies For the Digital Age, In Oklahoma 118
David Hume writes "The Los Angeles Times has a story about the two-year University of Tulsa Cyber Corps Program. About '85% of the 260 graduates since 2003 have gone to the NSA, which students call "the fraternity," or the CIA, which they call "the sorority."' 'Other graduates have taken positions with the FBI, NASA and the Department of Homeland Security.' According to the University of Tulsa website, two programs — the National Science Foundation's Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service and the Department of Defense's (DOD's) Information Assurance Scholarship Program — provide scholarships to Cyber Corps students."
Re:Open Enrollment / Full Courses Available? (Score:4, Interesting)
Tuition is not an issue with the program (at least at the Master's level). It's a free ride, with a monthly stipend. The program is designed to allow students with families and mortgages to focus on school full time. No agency sponsorship is required; you compete for a slot just like a regular student. In some schools you can even design your own program (that's what I did; I could attend any class in any discipline, as long as I justified it with my advisor). I attended one of the top engineering schools in the country, and got paid to do it. Your only obligation is to seek employment from the government. if you don't get a job offer on graduation, you can take your degree and go. The downside is that if you only have one job offer, and you don't take it, you have to pay the money back.
Also, you don't have a clue about what the folks who work for the US government do for you.
Re:Yeah, but Tulsa (Score:5, Interesting)
I joined the Cyber Corps in my Forties. Tulsa and I were talking quite a bit but eventually I wound up applying to another school instead. There are currently hundreds of schools across the United States that participate in the Cyber Corps program.
Re:Also, you don't have a clue about what the folk (Score:5, Interesting)
I am actually not a spook, though I was recruited by one of the spooky agencies. i chose the non-spook life and I don't regret it. I have a number of friends who are spooks and they are the last defense against political appointees who try to engage in all kinds of prohibited activities. The nice thing about being a government employee is that we get to take an oath pledging us to protect, not the government, not a party, but the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. How do you think you became aware of the excesses of the past? It's because some low-level employee discovered some political hack set up an illegal program and let somebody -- a member of Congress, a law enforcement agency, or a newspaper -- about what was going on. You'd be shocked at how many liberals work for the NSA.
Re:so cut out smart people who are not college mat (Score:4, Interesting)
I've worked with a few sharp people with no formal training.
They would have all benefited from being forced out of their comfort zone in college.
That said, I've also worked with doctorate level air thieves.
Math and communication skills are areas that the 'naturals' often skip. Also their egos are often fucking out of control as they have not spent enough time with their intellectual peers. Nothing teaches you humility like running into subjects that force you to work at 100% (true 100% is fucking hard to maintain, 110% is only arrived at with 25%(Mon-Thurs)+10%(Friday)). 'Natural genius's' tend to ignore subjects that threaten their self image, often with a rationalization: 'I don't need to understand K domain, I'll go back and study it if it ever comes up.' It never comes up, their ego is safe. Not that they are alone in this. Zaphod (para) 'If their is anything on this spaceship more important then my ego, I want it taken out and shot'.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)