The Pentagon-Contractor Handshake

The Pentagon extended a firm handshake to IT security contractors on Oct. 20, pledging to strengthen the role of the private sector in protecting its networks -- even as the White House stressed the need to trim defense contracting fat earlier this year.

The use of security professionals who can engineer and integrate solutions to prevent data breaches will continue to grow, Robert Butler, the Pentagon's top official for cyber policy told journalists at a breakfast session this week. "What we want to do is a very, very tight partnership with industry," Butler said.

Butler added that the Defense Department would unveil a new national strategy for cybersecurity operations by the end of this year.

His overtures spotlighted the multibillion dollar information security industry flowering with the defense industrial base. The tracking website for federal spending, USASpending.gov, lists 14 information and IT management contracting entries for the Defense Department amounting to $11.2 billion spent in the 2010 fiscal year.

The Obama administration ordered in August reviews of 26 government information-technology projects worth $30 billion to scale back on contracts that have failed to meet goals.

The planned 10 percent reduction in funding for the Pentagon's private contractors and U.S. Joint Forces Command would most likely affect those doing work in maintenance of computer networks, upkeep of military bases, intelligence analysis, and cybersecurity, observed analysts quoted in the Washington Post.

Still, IT contractors are revving up for a cybersecurity haul. Around the Beltway, contractors are increasing their hires and setting up new offices in anticipation of federal cash. The cybersecurity market has been estimated to be worth an annual $80 billion to $140 billion worldwide, Reuters reports.