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career focus
Defense Industry STEM Jobs
By John R. Platt
What is the future of high-tech
employment in the U.S. defense industry? Well,
the defense industry itself is asking that
question as part of an 18-month study to assess
the long-term STEM needs of the Department of
Defense (DOD). The National Academy of
Engineering and National Research Council
launched the study in August 2011 and the
committee in charge of it released an
interim report this past summer. The study
aims to "assess the STEM capabilities that the
DOD will need in order to meet its goals,
objectives, and priorities; to assess whether
the current DOD workforce and strategy will meet
those needs; and to identify and evaluate
options and recommend strategies that the
department could use to help meet its future
STEM needs."
Although some of the interim
report's observations and recommendations might
be a bit obvious, it "makes some salient points
to consider," says Roger Oliva, vice chair of
the IEEE-USA Committee on Transportation and
Aerospace Policy. "Everyone who doesn't know
this should read it."
A Changing Workforce
The report identifies a number
of factors that will affect the DOD-related
workforce over the next five to 15 years.
For one thing, the current
workforce is aging. Recent hiring freezes and
workforce reductions have slowed the entry of
new employees, which means that the current
workforce is rapidly moving toward retirement
without replacements in the pipeline. According
to the report, approximately 45% of current DOD
engineers with at least 20 years of experience
are 50 or 55 years old or older, putting them on
the fast-track toward retirement. The numbers
for employees in physical sciences, IT and
biological sciences aren't much different. This
could result in a significant brain drain over
the next 10 years.
For another thing, the report
argues that there may not be enough U.S.
citizens trained in STEM fields to fill these
jobs in the coming years. Part of this, the
report says, is because "American youth seem
less attracted to careers in STEM fields." The
report is particularly critical toward K-12
education, which it calls "one of the
poorest...in the industrialized world," and
which it says will further affect how many U.S.
students go on to study STEM topics.
The committee also points out
that more than half of the doctoral degrees from
U.S. engineering schools are currently going to
non-U.S. citizens, a large percentage of whom
leave the country within five years of getting
their degrees. Since DOD-related jobs usually
require security clearances, this limits the
field of potential candidates that can fill the
positions that will open as the current
workforce retires.
Globalization: The
Double-Edged Sword
Globalization has created a lot
of opportunities for a lot of people around the
world, but it has also created threats that the
DOD feels it will need to address and risks to
their supply of employee candidates.
In terms of specific threats,
the committee says that so-called "failed
states" present a growing hazard to U.S.
security, as does the proliferation of nuclear
technology. Deterrence through military
superiority is far less effective in modern
times. Meanwhile, the threat of conflicts in
regions such as the Middle East and Korea (and
even the Arctic) has grown, as has the threat of
terrorism. In other words, the very nature of
warfare has changed.
At the same time, new
technologies create new threats, especially
since technology is now much more global than it
was even 20 years ago. "For most technologies,"
the report reads, "the most advanced work is no
longer being conducted within the Department of
Defense or its contractor community." And the
growth of the Internet and "porous geopolitical
borders" mean knowledge about new technologies
spreads "at literally the speed of light."
As for employees, the United
States is no longer necessarily the best market
for their talents. "Opportunities are increasing
in many parts of the world for scientists and
engineers — both U.S. citizens and non-citizens
— to build productive careers in their native
lands and in other countries because talent is
in great demand everywhere," according to the
report.
Globalization might also affect
which companies can take DOD contracts, says
Paul Kostek, past president of IEEE-USA and a
member of the IEEE-USA Career and Workforce
Policy Committee. "Companies have workforces all
over the place now. What happens when a
company's talent pool in a particular area
doesn't reside in the United States? If the
talent is outside the country, do you use it or
not? The DOD is going to struggle with that."
Making DOD Work More
Desirable?
The interim report lays out a
few "constructive steps" the DOD could take to
attract more STEM workers in the near future,
although the committee does not go into much
detail at this time. Steps cited include making
the DOD a more desirable place to work; creating
more "pathways" for scientists and engineers to
work at the DOD; increasing the investment in
STEM employees; and supporting their career
growth.
Kostek says the DOD needs to
compete in the employee marketplace just like
any other organization. "If people have other
options, if someone is paying more, they're
going to go where the opportunities are better,"
he says.
"It's really a business decision
for an employee to work for the DOD," Kostek
says. "What are the salaries? What are the
benefits? What are the opportunities?" People
might also see a defense job as being riskier
and more unstable than corporate or academic
work. He points out previous periods of
defense-industry contraction, as well as the
inherent risk that contracts could be cancelled.
Security clearances may be
another hurdle for some employees — not because
the employees can't get them, but because it
limits what they can say about the work they're
doing. "I spent a bunch of years doing defense
work where the work was classified and you can't
talk much about it to your family or your
peers," Kostek says. Some people perceive that
as a risk to their careers if they will not be
able to discuss what they have been doing with
their next potential employers.
Beyond those risks, DOD careers
can be attractive to people who are interested
in very specific technical challenges related to
the work. Kostek asks, "Certain people might be
willing to work for less if they have a keen
interest in a particular area or a personal
belief that what they're doing has more value
than another type of job. Some of it's just
going to be a sales pitch for DOD folks to say,
'here's why you should come to work in our
projects.'"
Other Points to Ponder
Interestingly, the report finds
that there are actually no current shortages of
STEM workers except in a handful of specialized
subfields, such as cybersecurity. The committee
also says that forecasting the future need for
specific skills is not possible because
technology advances so quickly and military
budgets are unpredictable. Instead, the
committee suggests focusing on flexibility and
adaptability.
Meanwhile, the committee does
discuss the need to attract the highest quality
STEM employees, and one suggestion for that is
liberalizing policies related to the hiring of
non-U.S. citizens. Russell Lefevre, past
president of IEEE-USA and a member of the
Committee on Transportation and Aerospace
Policy, agrees with this, but says "I think it
will be very difficult to implement the
necessary changes. The DOD and other important
defense-related organizations have a long
history of being resistant to reducing the
security classification requirements."
The report also suggests
creating additional "skunk works" programs for
radical innovation as a means of attracting
top-level talent, but Lefevre says the DOD is
already full of skunk works programs that are
very effective. "DARPA has been instrumental in
bringing high technology into the DOD since its
inception," he says. He also notes the existence
of DOD-supported federally funded research and
Development centers (FFRDCs) like MIT Lincoln
Laboratory. "FFRDC employees are paid very well
and have high prestige in the community."
For IEEE employees considering
work in the defense industry, Kostek says it's a
great place to work, "but always go into it with
the thought that it's not going to be
permanent." That's true in all fields these
days, he says, so he suggests that people go
into new assignments with clear expectations of
what they will learn from the job, what they
will be able to contribute, and where they might
be able to go next.
John R. Platt is a freelance
writer and entrepreneur, as well as a frequent
contributor to Today's Engineer,
Scientific American, Mother Nature
Network and other publications.
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