Defense

The Pentagon Is Recruiting Tech Talent Like Colleges Recruit Athletes

Like many federal agencies, the Defense Department struggles to attract, recruit and retain young, technically talented employees. Data from the Office of Personnel Managementindicates the Defense Department has approximately 6.6 IT professionals over the age of 60 for every one under the age of 30.

Those numbers compound the Pentagon’s lengthy list of national security challenges topped by keeping pace with China and Russia and remaining at the forefront of global information dominance. Reversing the trend won’t happen by accident, and the Pentagon’s top tech official, Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy, is addressing the challenge directly.

“Our biggest challenges inside the [Defense Department], they are complex. They are mind-boggling, and we need the creative people who want to work on the complex and the mind-boggling,” Deasy said Monday at the Imagine Nation conference in Philadelphia.

For starters, the Pentagon is beginning to target young tech talent in ways that more closely resemble how universities recruit elite athletes than government’s traditional hands-off hiring method.