Navy, Anne Arundel Community College recognized for cyber security programs
Baltimore Business Journal - by Daniel J. Sernovitz Staff

The National Security Agency has added two area colleges to its feeder system for future cyber warriors.

The secretive code-cracking agency has designated Anne Arundel Community College and the U.S. Naval Academy as National Centers of Academic Excellence, a program by the NSA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

There are 106 colleges and universities across the country that are Centers of Academic Excellence, meaning their courses in cyber security have been sanctioned by the federal agencies. Training workers in the field is becoming increasing important as the Pentagon ramps up its war on cyber terrorism, and the NSA has been tapped to play a key role. The agency is based at Fort George G. Meade in Anne Arundel County, and its director, Keith Alexander, has been appointed head of an umbrella organization overseeing the military’s cyber security efforts.

State and local economic development officials say the U.S. Cyber Command will have a significant impact in Greater Baltimore, steering millions of dollars in government contracts to companies doing business with the agency and employing hundreds of workers.

The Naval Academy was designated a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, a designation open to four-year colleges and graduate-level universities. It was one of six announced by the NSA Wednesday, with others in Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas.

Anne Arundel Community College was designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance two-year Education program. Hagerstown Community College and Prince George’s Community College also received the designation, as did two other schools in Illinois and Oklahoma.

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