Using modern agile development tools to verify the integrity of data to reduce vulnerabilities in cyber systems, implementing automation with required regulation and policy to secure vulnerable networks, developing guidebooks and processes for acquisition professionals to understand program protection – these are just some examples of the work being done by summer interns this year at Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S).
After the positive experiences from last year’s cohort, PEO IEW&S once again hosted several interns through the Defense Civilian Training Corps (DCTC). The intern program is a collaboration between academia and the Department of Defense. Scholars attending participating schools are selected through a vigorous and highly competitive process who, once selected, work on challenging projects submitted by DoD host organizations. Interns are provided security clearances, receive stipends and may be offered employment upon graduation.
Cheryl Litteral, Talent Manager/Human Capital Strategist for PEO IEW&S, has been an advocate for internship programs and what they bring to both the students and the organizations who host them. She described this year’s cohort by saying, “The Defense Civilian Training Corps is a program sponsored by the Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC) that is designed to prepare college students with the skills and experience to contribute to the DoD mission immediately after placement. The 8-week summer internship pairs students with DoD organizations and allows them to work and solve real-world problems. Building the bench is one of the key tools we require to help us grow and evolve as an organization and these students are stellar examples of the talent, we need to achieve that goal.”
Three project management offices (PMs) from PEO IEW&S hosted DCTC interns for six weeks beginning in early June, ending July 25th. One organization that participated was Project Manager Cyber & Space (PM C&S), which develops, acquires, and fields offensive cyber and tactical space capabilities that protect the Soldier, the Nation and enable cyberspace superiority. PM C&S challenged their two Virginia Tech Computational Modeling & Data Analytics majors, Paige Barnhart, and Ryan Pini, to an offensive cyber operational project where they tried to detect and prevent any issues with data integrity specifically with Packet Capture (PCAP) data. PCAP data contains the exact data transmitted between devices on a network, which has a history of causing problems with software used to process that data. According to James Kettner, System Engineer and mentor to the interns, “It was a well-scoped problem, and they went after it, using a modern set of agile development tools”. Mentor and civilian supervisor Wendi Duffy, Product Support Manager for PM C&S said “what they (the interns) bring to the organization I think is a new perspective. I think so often we get jaded in our world because we’re dealing with the same customers, the same products and when the interns come in, they look at it and can bring something totally different.”
PEO IEW&S’s PM Aircraft Survivability Equipment (PM ASE) also hosted two interns this summer. PM ASE develops and manages systems that protect military aircraft from threats such as enemy missiles, radar, and electronic warfare. William Buinicki attends Purdue as a cybersecurity and network engineering major and Lake Gohlke attends Virginia Tech, also a cybersecurity and network engineering major. Buinicki and Gohlke both applied to the DCTC program and were interested in the project submitted by PM ASE. This project involved assisting current PM ASE cybersecurity personnel in improving the organization’s cybersecurity posture via documentation improvement and vulnerability identification and remediation. By assisting with policy review and policy implementation, the scholars would be able to experience the complexities of implementing required regulation and policy into difficult to fit areas.
Gohlke said “I saw this project on the listing back in February and I thought it was a great opportunity to build on the basics that I’ve already been learning in class and really contribute to the workforce here.”
Brian Cary, Information System Security Manager and mentor, worked with the interns first with an overview of the risk management framework and how it relates to acquisition policies and regulations and then was able to transition to a hands-on approach with the interns, specifically introducing them to the tools the DoD uses to secure its networks. The interns were able to assist the team in preparing configuration reports and generate some automated capabilities. Cary said, “They were able to provide a foundation for some automation that we can definitely carry forward into the future, it’s not just a project that they worked and will be set aside.”
David Blevins, PM ASE Chief Information Officer and mentor/supervisor to the interns was also impressed with the work Buinicki and Gohlke were able to accomplish in a mere 6 weeks. “Having them assigned with Brian and them making a true impact versus simply catering to them as visitors or walking them around to show them different things, they made a true impact.”
PM Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PM PNT), which develops and fields technologies that provide Soldiers with reliable and resilient navigation and timing capabilities in GPS-contested environments, is another organization under PEO IEW&S that submitted a project to the DCTC internship program. Their project required the DCTC intern to develop a Program Protection roadmap with an acquisition lifecycle checklist for Assistant Product Manager’s (APMs) to codify lessons learned and provide continuity during turnover. In this project, DCTC Scholars would develop a Program Protection Overview roadmap with an acquisition lifecycle checklist to identify key milestones and events for Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM), Program Protection Assessments, Cyber, tailored risk mitigation contract language, and other program protection activities planning for APMs
DCTC Intern Adam Lieu attends the University of Arizona as a management information systems major. He applied to the program with an interest in government service. He said, “this internship and the experience I’ve had here has given me a pretty unique skill set as far as people going into their senior year of college.” Lieu was able to earn a program protection credential while also working on the project.During his six weeks at PM PNT, Lieu created an APM guidebook consisting of flow charts, slides and acronym lists that will bridge a knowledge gap for the APMs.
Karie Anderson, civilian mentor/supervisor to Lieu and security specialist for PM PNT, said this was the organization’s first experience with the DCTC internship. “He has been absolutely amazing, taking on our project has been a great experience, he really attacked it being very APM centric and he really took ownership, and he gave us a product that the Army can really use. I would say too if there’s any other organization or civilian who’s thinking about submitting a project for consideration, you should do it. It is well worth it.”
Lieu was impressed with the communication and how supported he felt through the whole process from the beginning from both the DCTC side and the PM PNT. There was ample communication from the beginning that he felt he could hit the ground running.
With the end of another internship cycle at PEO IEW&S, one can see how today’s students are already making impacts and contributing to the Army’s mission.
By Allison Weissert, PEO IEW&S Public Affairs Specialist
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