Marine Commandant Worries He Can't Retain Cyber Force

Marine Corps commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Tuesday that while he is not concerned about maintaining recruitment levels, he is worried the Marines and other branches of service may not be able to keep the highly trained cyber warriors it has.

"What I do worry about … is the additional time it might take, and then being able to retain enough of these," Neller said Tuesday, according to reporting by The Washington Free Beacon.

"These are very, very capable and qualified people and there [are] opportunities out there, so if we are going to train somebody to work in the cyber domain, for example, and we invest in them, and they get to the end of their enlistment, they’re going to have a huge room of opportunity," Neller said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"How do we convince them to stick around and wear this uniform, or wear a uniform, and do that when some of your companies are out there offering up two, three times as much money and they get to sleep in their own bed at night and no one is trying to kill them?" Neller said.

Technology makes training take up more time than ever, Neller said, and Marines also must be able to do their work even if their advanced systems are taken offline by an enemy or by other failure.

• Obama Prepares to Boost US Military's Cyber Role
  
• Hacking Risks Found in US Army's $12 Billion Mobile Network