Congressman Jeff Miller visits 39th IOS

  • Published
  • By Capt. Casey R. Osborne
  • 688th Cyberspace Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller from Florida's First Congressional District, which includes Hurlburt Field, visited the 39th Information Operations Squadron Nov. 6 here to gain an appreciation for the squadron's mission.

The 39th is the Air Force's "Formal Training Unit" responsible for providing Information Operations and Cyber Operations mission qualification training for the service.

During his visit, the congressman noted that IO and cyber were vital for defense of the nation. 

Miller said the 39th's mission of training the next generation of cyber defenders would ensure the military stays one step ahead of adversarial nations seeking to cripple U.S. critical infrastructure through malicious cyber intrusions. The squadron also enables the Air Force to employ non-kinetic effects against enemy forces before traditional warfighters even make it to the battlefield.

"Many folks like to say they're at the pointy end of the spear," he said to the squadron. "You guys are even ahead of the pointy end."

The congressman also expressed an appreciation for the need to increase the number of capable cyber warriors the Air Force needs to operate on its systems.

The 39th is expected to nearly double the student output from its core cyber class, the Intermediate Network Warfare Training course, in the next three years.

Miller commended these efforts, urging the 39th to ensure its increased throughput doesn't lower the quality of its graduates. He said that more and more frequent cyber intrusions from enemy nations and malicious hacker groups raised the bar for America's cyber operators.

"If they're doing it to us, we'd better be doing it to them twice as fast," he said.