Scarcity of science students worries military IT officials

The dearth of Americans being trained in science and technology is probably one of the greatest threats to the military's future, several Pentagon information technology officials said during a luncheon on Friday.

Comment on this article in The Forum."If we're not sweating bullets about the education problem, we're all in the wrong framework," David Tillotson, deputy chief information officer for the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, told an audience of IT industry professionals at the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association event.

Tillotson and other officials said they were concerned that U.S. high schools and colleges are not turning out enough engineers to help fill the military's next-generation needs. The issue is critical enough that Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England recently raised it a high-level meeting of Pentagon officials, Tillotson said.

"This is one of the things we're focusing on within the Air Force CIO's office," he said. "We do not have the right workforce to deal with the next 20 years. This is the first thing we're focusing on, not technology. You've got a handle on the technology."

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, CIO/G6 for the Army, noted that by 2010 more than 90 percent of all scientists and engineers will be living in Asia. China will graduate four times the number of engineers as the United States, while Japan -- which has less than half the population of the United States -- will graduate twice as many.

"These are striking issues with respect to the standard of education," Sorenson said. "If we are going to have an army of the future, we have to ponder this."

Tillotson said he thinks the solution to the problem starts with high schools. "We aren't going to solve [it] with the college graduation issue," he said.

Marine Corps Col. Ron Zick said speed and security were the primary concerns, making it crucial to have a well-trained IT workforce.

"We can't be out-cycled by our adversaries," Zick said. "The linchpin is the workforce. We've coined the term network marine -- someone who can do it all, not just work on hardware, software or servers. We need well-rounded people…and innovative training solutions, so we can train anywhere, any time."

Sorenson encouraged the industry audience to get involved by adopting local schools or contributing to the National Science Center, which seeks to stimulate interest in math and science among children. He also noted that the Army has a knowledge management intern program, which lets students work on assignments within the service, such as exploring how to make better use of social networking technology to reach a younger generation.