Space Force begins onboarding cyber specialists

Gen. John Raymond, U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command commander at the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 16, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Armando Schwier-Morales)

The U.S. Space Force has begun transferring more than a thousand cyber professionals into its ranks as of Feb. 1 and plans to start recruiting talent from across the military branches this year.

"There is a spectrum of threats that are out there -- everything from reversible jamming of satellites...and there's cyber threats," Gen. John Raymond, the Chief of Space Operations told reporters Feb. 3, "which is why it's so important for us to have those cyber professionals on the Space Force team, organic to our team. They will be part of our crew force, they will understand the cyber terrain of space and help us protect this critical domain from that threat."

Raymond said about 1,300 enlisted Air Force and officers are being transferred with the bulk scheduled to convert and become "organic to our team" and who "will understand the cyber terrain of space" by the end of the February. All 1,300 are expected to be absorbed over the next several months.

Over the past six months, the Space Force has selected about 6,400 active duty airmen with about 2,400 that have successfully converted over. All 6,400 plus another 10,000 civilians assigned to the Space Force in common career fields, such as engineers, intelligence, acquisitions, are expected to transfer over by the spring.

Space Force personnel have been designated as Guardians.

This year, Space Force will also begin taking applications from professionals across military branches, starting with the Army and Navy. Raymond said the aim is to bring in at least 30 space professionals this year, a number that jumps exponentially in the hundreds for 2022.