The Army is accepting applications from Regular Army officers in the ranks of second lieutenant through colonel who want to become members of the service's new career branch for cyber warriors.

Selections for duty as 17A cyber warfare officers will be made by a Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program panel that convenes Dec. 2.

The application deadline is Nov. 7.

Results of this one-time 17A VTIP panel for accessing officers into the Cyber branch will be announced in early January.

The transfer program is limited to members of the Army Competitive Category, without regard to their current branch or functional area. The Army will not issue "in/out" calls for this special panel.

National Guard and Army Reserve officers are not eligible for this particular accessions effort, nor are warrant officers and special branch commissioned officers of the Regular Army.

Officers who have been recalled to active duty, and officers who have made an interservice transfer to the Regular Army are eligible, provided they have served in their current career branch for at least 12 months.

Also eligible are officers who are serving active-duty service obligations related to participation in special professional development programs, such as the junior Officer Cryptologic Program, the National Intelligence University, the National Systems Development Program and the FBI Intern Program.

Officers who attended graduate school under the Advanced Civil Schooling Program, the Expanded Graduate School Program, Training with Industry Program and fellowship programs also are eligible.

Applicants in the ranks of second lieutenant through colonel must meet the following requirements:

■ Be able to obtain a top secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information. The clearance must be obtained before attending the 17A qualification course.

■ Be able to obtain and maintain a counterintelligence polygraph exam, and have access to National Security Agency facilities. NSA access will be required for many assignments with the Army's cyber mission force.

Preferred academic credentials for 17A officers are a bachelor's degree or higher in electrical engineering, computer science, computer engineering, information technology, information systems, information assurance and cyber security, or mathematics with at least six hours of structured programming.

Applications for the Dec. 2 VTIP panel should be submitted on a DA Form 4187, Request for Personnel Action, in accordance with the guidance issued in MilPer Message 14-298, dated Oct. 8.

The Oct. 8 announcement comes one month after the Army activated its first-ever Cyber Protection Brigade at Fort Gordon, Georgia, which will be composed of several existing and future cyber protection teams detailed throughout the force.

Simultaneous with the buildup of an officer career branch for 17A cyber warriors, the Army will build a new career management field for 17C enlisted cyber warfare specialists, comprised primarily of soldiers with signal and military intelligence skills.

These personnel programs and units will be supported by a new academic and research organization, the Army Cyber Institute, which was established at the U. S. Military Academy Oct. 3.

One of the institute's primary missions will be to reach out and network with academia, industry and the international community in building public-private cyber security partnerships, said Army Secretary John McHugh.

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