Remarks: National Cyber Director Coker at Hinds Community College | ONCD

Raymond, Mississippi

December 2, 2024

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon,

Thank you, Congressman Thompson, for inviting me to Jackson to showcase the incredible cyber ecosystem that has been built here.

Thank you to Vice President Ginger Robbins and Vice President Jonathan Townes for the great work you’re doing here at Hinds Community College. I am grateful for your hospitality and graciousness in hosting us here.

I want to thank Provost Dr. Denise Jones Gregory of Jackson State University and Provost Dr. Josiah Sampson of Tougaloo College and the rest of the college and university leadership for being here today.

I want to thank Regional Director Jay Gamble from CISA for also joining us today.

To the school leaders, faculty, and partners from across the community, it’s a pleasure to spend time with you today.

And to the students we met this morning – I feel particularly inspired knowing that you’ll be well-prepared and excited for a future helping defend our Nation.

I’ve been inspired by what I have seen about the great work you’re doing in the Jackson area and across Mississippi. You are working together to make sure that students are prepared to join our Nation’s cyber workforce. And that couldn’t be more important.

In July 2023, President Biden released the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy – a foundational document that focuses our collective effort on growing the cyber workforce – and follows up visions he laid out in America’s landmark National Cybersecurity Strategy.

There’s a point I consistently believe needs to be make clear: having a strong cyber workforce isn’t only a matter of National security. It’s also a matter of economic prosperity and technological innovation.

When I was in uniform, it was almost exclusively those of us in the Federal Government who were on the front lines defending our Nation against Nation-states.

But today, in our increasingly digital world, all of us can find ourselves up against bad cyber actors – whether they are foreign Governments or cyber criminals. And that’s a real concern for small businesses, schools, hospitals, state, local, territorial and Tribal Governments, and those that own and operate critical infrastructure.

Today, there are approximately half a million – 500,000 – open cybersecurity jobs in our great Nation.

Here in Mississippi, there are almost 2,290 open cybersecurity jobs, and about 950 of those open jobs are here in the Jackson area.

In order to protect the Nation and the critical digital systems that underpin our way of life, we must have a large, robust cybersecurity workforce.

And in order to achieve the best mission outcomes, we need the best possible team.

So, we need more people seeing themselves serving their own communities doing cyber jobs.

We need more people being trained and educated in cyber-related fields.

We need more ways for them to join our ranks.

We need Mississippi to help make our Nation safer and stronger. I consider Mississippi to be an untapped talent pool, which America has to leverage to be as good as we need to be and as secure as we deserve.

As I mentioned, Congressman Thompson and I are pleased to be here, meeting students and learning from the leadership of Hinds, Jackson State, and Tougaloo College.

In my year as National Cyber Director, I’ve been traveling across the country to see firsthand, and spotlight, the best practices – the things that are going right – as we work to build the Nation’s cybersecurity workforce.

From Madison to Michigan, and Norfolk to North Carolina, a common theme I’ve seen in all my travels is that the communities who have truly come together – where schools and employers are closely connected, where students are acquiring skills and the ability to use them through valuable internships and apprenticeships, where local Governments are eager to build bridges – these are the communities that are thriving and building the Nation’s cyber workforce.

But building the cadre of cyber professionals isn’t an effort we can mandate from Washington. The most impactful work is happening community-by-community. We call these hubs of activity cyber ecosystems. And, after fourteen trips to community colleges, technical colleges, four-year universities, and community hubs, the National Cyber Director’s Office is proud to share the best practices we’ve seen in some of the strongest ecosystems in the Nation.

Today, I am proud to announce the publication of the Office of the National Cyber Director’s Cyber Workforce and Education Ecosystem Toolkit, which features what we have learned from these trips and best practices we hope to see be adopted in ecosystems all around the country.

This cyber ecosystem toolkit will help communities that are earlier in their journey of building the connections and best practices that set their students up become cyber workers so they are able to have good-paying, meaningful jobs at home, here in Mississippi.

I hope the toolkit will be helpful for all of you as you continue to develop the cyber ecosystem in the Jackson area. And I hope other communities across the country will be able to learn from your work in Jackson and from the resources in the toolkit to build ecosystems that support their local and regional cyber workforce needs.

Truth be told, I’ve already been truly impressed by the cyber ecosystem that you have developed and are continuing to grow in this region.

The institutions represented here today each demonstrate some of those best practices I mentioned earlier, which are included in the ecosystem toolkit and help us build a strong cyber workforce for our Nation.

Our host today, Hinds Community College, has earned the designation of Center of Academic Excellence – or CAE – in Cybersecurity. In fact, they were one of the first schools in Mississippi to achieve this impressive distinction.

The CAE program is administered by the National Security Agency and, as a former Executive Director of the NSA, I can tell you that status is not easy to obtain nor maintain. It’s the gold standard for cyber education, so it’s a big deal, and Mississippi should be proud of Hinds Community College. Congratulations.

Jackson State has been working to build its cyber infrastructure and is developing programs and lab spaces to give its computer science and computer engineering students valuable hands-on experience with cybersecurity.

Just last month, Jackson State received a $2 million grant from Entergy to create a Critical Power Grid Network Security Lab.

This project will be a key part of JSU’s commitment to workforce development, and will help train a highly-skilled cybersecurity workforce by providing real-world experience safeguarding critical power grid infrastructure. We are grateful for JSU’s efforts to advance Mississippi’s – and the United States’ – economic prosperity and national security. Thank you, JSU.

And Tougaloo College has, not only, produced a congressional leader who cares deeply about cyber in Representative Thompson, but just last month Tougaloo opened its CyberSecurity Clinic.

I love clinics because they bring students together and give critical hands-on experience while encouraging students to provide their expertise to organizations in the community that could badly use some cyber advice.

That means students are gaining real-world experience, which will make them job-ready on day-one after graduation and small businesses and other critical organizations in the community are better protected. Congratulations and thank you to Tougaloo.

The work I saw here today from all three of these institutions represents the kinds of best practices that we need to scale nationwide. I commend you for it. It’s clear that you are absolutely part of the solution. And I’m excited for the panel to follow where we’ll all learn more about these best practices.

Make no mistake, there is outstanding talent here in Mississippi. This talent will be a part of the solution to our growing need for skilled cyber talent and will be the next generation to keep our country safe.

The work being done here demonstrates how we can continue to support Americans by reducing barriers to good-paying, meaningful cyber jobs and providing students with hands-on experience and flexible pathways into the field.

The spirit of collaboration and partnership in the Jackson area helps create pathways for students from all backgrounds, so that opportunity is available for everyone. It also helps employers by providing a skilled cyber workforce whose training aligns to the specific needs in this community.

As we work to grow the cyber workforce and expand opportunities to make sure we have the very best team possible, HBCUs have proven to be a vital to provide the talent our Nation needs to fill our open cybersecurity jobs, to foster academic excellence around our country, and to serve as a ladder for opportunities for all communities.

At ONCD, we have been working to expand the number of HBCUs with the NSA’s Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity designation that I mentioned earlier.

The CAE designation helps recognize their role in educating the next generation of the cyber workforce and provides additional funding, support, and opportunities for their programs.

Partners across industry also recognize the critical role that HBCUs play in creating a skilled cyber workforce. ONCD has received many commitments from employers, academia, non-profits, and other partners to support the implementation of the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, which supports HBCUs and expands the opportunities available for Black Americans. IBM, Cisco, and the National Cybersecurity Alliance are just some of the organizations stepping up to establish leadership centers and train students from HBCUs.

It is my hope that more HBCUs will gain their CAE designation and that’s something Chairman Thompson and I have talked about today.

While I’ve been the National Cyber Director, I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with leaders across critical infrastructure and I repeatedly hear two things: they need more people ready to join the cyber workforce – like the talent you are growing here in Jackson – and they need resources.

Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda – and through the hard work and collaboration of people like Congressman Thompson – we are making sure that more resources become available for Mississippi.

We’re ensuring access to the digital economy for every American. Across the state, more than 244,000 households are benefitting from $1.7 billion provided for affordable, reliable high-speed Internet. These benefits include:

Over $1.2 billion from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (or BEAD) Program to build high-speed Internet infrastructure, support teaching skills, and provide equipment so everyone can use the Internet.

More than $13.6 million from the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program to reduce the cost of bringing high-speed Internet service to unserved and underserved communities by connecting local networks to major networks.

$11.6 million from Digital Equity Act Programs to provide funding to promote digital inclusion and advance equity for all. These programs aim to ensure that all communities have access to and can use affordable, reliable high-speed Internet.

$270 million was awarded to Mississippi community colleges because of the American Rescue Plan, including $87 million to Hinds Community College.

My friend Congressman Thompson has played a huge role in making sure that Hinds Community College and the Jackson community is prepared for the future.

This includes $4 million allocated through Congressional Direct Spending for STEM projects, including $1.2 million for IT training and $2.8 million for the development of a STEM Training Academy.

So, the Federal Government – and the Biden-Harris Administration – are making important investments. But we

know that the Federal Government can not solve this issue alone. Collaboration and partnership are critical to our success. And we’ve been seeing time and time again, partners step up and join our efforts.

In support of the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, our office has received over 180 commitments from private sector industry, academia, nonprofits, and Governments at all levels across the country to do their part to grow the cyber workforce and create opportunities for more Americans to enter into good-paying, meaningful cyber careers.

And the commitments continue to come in. Today I’m proud to announce three new commitments that will help broaden pathways, remove barriers, and connect job seekers to opportunities across the Nation:

ClearanceJobs will encourage skills-based hiring by providing new resources to both candidates and hiring managers for how to apply and hire for skills-based roles. I want to acknowledge and thank their President Evan Lesser for being here.

SkillStorm, a tech talent firm, has committed to train over 400 registered apprentices in 2025, with an emphasis on providing in-demand skills for cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, and cloud.

And Hack to Box, a cyber training and upskilling provider, will use its gamified platform to train more than 20,000 individuals and introduce them to potential careers in cyber, with an emphasis on outreach and programming for high schools and universities.

Thank you to these partners, who are showing up to help create new opportunities for all Americans to join the cyber workforce.

I have been fortunate to serve in this role for the past year. I have been able to cross the country to hear remarkable stories from everyday people who want to get into cyber.

Frequently, when you think of cyber and the tech communities around the country, our minds go to Silicon Valley and big coastal cities.

I have been to Silicon Valley, and I have seen the innovative ways it is building and fostering cyber talent.

But, as a country boy from rural Kansas, I’m well aware that cyber talent is in every corner of this country. In fact, some of my most impactful visits have been in unexpected places.

The cybersecurity training center surrounded by farms in rural Wisconsin. The Pennsylvania Cybersecurity Center in coal country. The collaboration being built by Black Tech Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been inspired by the spirit of innovation I’ve seen as so many have discovered that we have incredible talent, and are creating the next generation of cyber professionals, who will join the fight to protect our great Nation.

And I’m proud to say that the talent being developed here in Mississippi can compete against the talent in any place I have been to.

Cyber is about people. It doesn’t matter what your area code is. What matters is if you have the passion, discipline, and commitment to the cause, there is place for you in the cyber workforce.

You all are doing your part by fostering a community of faculty, educators, and students who are well-equipped to meet the growing need this region faces.

This region, the state of Mississippi, and the Nation are safer and more prosperous because of what you’re doing here.

Thank you again for the invitation and the opportunity to meet and learn from you. I look forward to continuing to grow the cyber workforce together.