Keep one thing in mind.
The $107,000,000 that the state, city and parish dropped on Cyber Innovation Center was touted as an ‘investment’ that would give a huge return in tax revenues spurred by thousands of new jobs and all sorts of new growth. That was the purpose of the goverment putting up the money.
“We’re definitely on the fast track here,” said David Rockett, executive director of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation.
"What that means is 10,000 potential new employees with families that will need to find housing, enroll children in the school system, drive on city streets and shop in local stores.”
"In my opinion, it's a done deal," Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker, a retired Air Force colonel, said of Cyber Command coming to Barksdale.
CIC Director Craig Spohn was quoted as saying "Cyberspace is where the next big threat to industry, individuals and national security is."
"Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
In December of 2007 I wrote on this blog “Regardless of what the national economy does, if Bossier gets the Cyber Command (announcement due in February), we will see phenomenal growth for quite a while. My understanding is that California, New Mexico, Nebraska and a couple of other states are vying for the command. The local and state government have put up huge amounts of money for development.
At this point, we can only wait and see.”
I was optimistic, but also I was leery of the huge amounts of taxpayer money that were being put up.
After it was announced that there would be no separate Cyber Command, and that what was left of it was to be in San Antonio, Mr. Spohn changed his tune.
"We were never intending to be a one trick-pony with respect to the Air Force. The Air Force provided us a good catalyst and still does because of the things at Barksdale Air Force Base and it's not scheduled to go away."
Well, no – that’s not what he said.
The Times this week interviewed Mr. Spohn and this was one of their exchanges:
Times: Has CIC's actual or understood mission statement been changed since the the Department of Defense and the Air Force altered its decision regarding the establishment of a "Cyber Command"?
Spohn: The mission has and continues to be the development of good-paying technology jobs leveraging federal programs such as Global Strike Command.
Again, no, that’s not what he said at the inception. Global Strike Command has to do with the centralization of control of nuclear weapons.
What he said was "Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
Now I have nothing against Mr. Spohn, I understand that his job is to try to salvage this thing and make something of it. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that he has really been forthcoming.
For instance, when CIC announced a couple of weeks ago that LUBA, a workers’ compensation insurance company, would be locating at the center, the press release failed to state that they would be occupying a communications closet, not an office. This came out in The Times interview.
Times: What will LUBA locate here?
Spohn: The LUBA agreement is for a communications closet, not an office. There is no staff working here. This is a disaster recovery site.
Now that's okay as far as it goes, but it doesn't create one single job. Since the whole success or failure of the CIC is based on the number of jobs created, perhaps it is time for some straight answers.
We know that the 8th Air Force has leased, temporarily, 2 floors of the building for office space. That’s a boon for CIC, but doesn’t create one single new job. The jobs were here already, you can chalk them down to Barksdale Air Force Base, long Bossier’s largest employer.
How about Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Precision Aerial Reconnaissance (PAR) Inc, who both signed multi-year leases in mid-June. Give us a hint, just estimate – how many new jobs will each company create?
How many of the 10,000 jobs will be filled by these companies, and by the others who have already signed leases?
Just a guess please – 1,000 jobs? 2,000 jobs? 200 jobs? 50 jobs?
I started out optimistic about the possibilities, but I have become very cynical. The main reason for this is that the CIC director and the local politicians have been very disingenuous in the way they have attempted to paint a rosy picture where there isn’t one.
If just one public official would stand up and say, “We really screwed up – this thing will never pay for itself, it will never create 10,000 jobs, nor 5,000 jobs. We’re stuck.”
Like that’s going to happen.
Instead, they are collectively somewhat like Pee-Wee in the clip below.
Showing posts with label Cyber Innovation Center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyber Innovation Center. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Friday, November 13, 2009
Unanswered questions about Cyber Innovation Center
This is what we were told to justify the $107,000,000 investment by the City, the Parish and the State:
“We’re definitely on the fast track here,” said David Rockett, executive director of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation.
"What that means is 10,000 potential new employees with families that will need to find housing, enroll children in the school system, drive on city streets and shop in local stores.”
"In my opinion, it's a done deal," Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker, a retired Air Force colonel, said of Cyber Command coming to Barksdale.
CIC Director Craig Spohn was quoted as saying "Cyberspace is where the next big threat to industry, individuals and national security is."
"Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
After it was announced that there would be no separate Cyber Command, and that what was left of it was to be in San Antonio, Mr. Spohn changed his tune.
"We were never intending to be a one trick-pony with respect to the Air Force. The Air Force provided us a good catalyst and still does because of the things at Barksdale Air Force Base and it's not scheduled to go away.
"There are new businesses coming to town," Spohn insisted. "There are actually millions of dollars worth of research in the cyber field today that weren't here a year ago."
Perhaps Mr. Spohn could share the names of the businesses that have been lured here by the CIC, and give us examples of these millions of dollars of research that CIC has helped create. We could feel much more comfortable about the $107,000,000 if we had some specifics.
Meanwhile, some people have a different take on CIC.
“We’re definitely on the fast track here,” said David Rockett, executive director of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation.
"What that means is 10,000 potential new employees with families that will need to find housing, enroll children in the school system, drive on city streets and shop in local stores.”
"In my opinion, it's a done deal," Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker, a retired Air Force colonel, said of Cyber Command coming to Barksdale.
CIC Director Craig Spohn was quoted as saying "Cyberspace is where the next big threat to industry, individuals and national security is."
"Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
After it was announced that there would be no separate Cyber Command, and that what was left of it was to be in San Antonio, Mr. Spohn changed his tune.
"We were never intending to be a one trick-pony with respect to the Air Force. The Air Force provided us a good catalyst and still does because of the things at Barksdale Air Force Base and it's not scheduled to go away.
"There are new businesses coming to town," Spohn insisted. "There are actually millions of dollars worth of research in the cyber field today that weren't here a year ago."
Perhaps Mr. Spohn could share the names of the businesses that have been lured here by the CIC, and give us examples of these millions of dollars of research that CIC has helped create. We could feel much more comfortable about the $107,000,000 if we had some specifics.
Meanwhile, some people have a different take on CIC.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Pssst. Bossier City. CIC has your money!
Bossier City officials are considering layoffs in light of the news late in the budgeting process that they are facing a 6.5 million dollar deficit. Some are wondering where the money went. Too late to recoup any of this, it is all dedicated:
“To persuade the Air Force to permanently locate Cyber Command at Barksdale, Bossier City and Bossier Parish officials have together earmarked $50 million to create a 58-acre cyber innovation center. It would provide space for research and development by civilian contractors. The state has pledged $50 million more.” The Times - 2007
How did that work out?
Cyber Innovation Center: Taxpayer $$$$$ and Sexy Science
DOD announces New Pentagon Cyber Command
Local governments trying to breathe life into cyber efforts
CIC Director: New businesses and millions in research now here
“To persuade the Air Force to permanently locate Cyber Command at Barksdale, Bossier City and Bossier Parish officials have together earmarked $50 million to create a 58-acre cyber innovation center. It would provide space for research and development by civilian contractors. The state has pledged $50 million more.” The Times - 2007
How did that work out?
Cyber Innovation Center: Taxpayer $$$$$ and Sexy Science
DOD announces New Pentagon Cyber Command
Local governments trying to breathe life into cyber efforts
CIC Director: New businesses and millions in research now here
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Cyber Innovation Center: Taxpayer $$$$$ and Sexy Science
I’ve been putting off writing this one for a few weeks, because I want to believe the best but have some nagging doubts. I hope I’m wrong.
With Senator David Vitter’s announcement Friday that he had secured $1,000,000 in government funding for CIC, the time has come to look at the pros and cons.
They didn't wink, they blinked
When the idea was first pitched, CIC was to be the civilian support component of the Air Force Cyber Command. We were told that Cyber Command would bring up to 10,000 new jobs to the area. When the location of Cyber Command became uncertain, we were still assured. Mayor Lo Walker said it was a ‘done deal’. CIC Director Craig Spohn said that "he's seen winks and nods from Air Force bigwigs."
He also said"Cyberspace is where the next big threat to industry, individuals and national security is."
"Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
The Bossier Parish Police Jury was just as optimistic and hired a high powered Washington lobbying firm to secure Barksdale as headquarters – at a cost of $15,000 per month.
That didn’t work out too well. The Air Force decided not to create a new command after all, and incorporated the cyber operations into a command at Lackland AFB in Texas.
Global Strike Command, however, did stand up at Barksdale recently. It is concerned with those missles that ‘will not be the weapons of the future’.
CIC says that they are adjusting to support the current mission.
Cash Cow or White Elephant?
According to Spohn, when CIC opens in a couple of months a full complement of industries will be on the ground to support its mission, both for the private sector as well as the military. “I’m in discussions with corporations like Microsoft, Dell and Cisco that have expressed willingness and interest in setting up labs and doing manufacturing here,” Spohn says. “So in addition to the knowledge-based workers we’ll have in terms of research, we’ll have people in the manufacturing community who build things like virus protection and intrusion protection software, hardware components that live on a network and monitor its activities. We’re going to have a broad range of activity here, and it’s some pretty sexy science.”
Spohn said at one point that he even has plans to build an additional 380,000 square feet of offices to house educational, research and manufacturing operations near the base.
When asked about specifics, however, Spohn cites ‘secrecy’. Since Spohn has assured us that the current building will be filled to overflow and that it will be necessary to build another, then we will assume that the Center can pay it’s own way as it goes.
I hope Mr. Spohn realizes that the identity of the companies locating there cannot be kept secret. Better to tell us now, without getting into specifics, who the companies are and what sort of revenue they will generate for CIC in the near and distant future.
The City of Bossier City, the Bossier Parish Police Jury, a couple of million dollars of taxpayer money and ‘secrecy’ just cause some uneasiness in certain quarters.
For more local views on CIC, read Professor Jeff Sadow’s comments in his blog post Government must cut cyber venture capital losses now and Marty Carlson’s column in the Press-Tribune Contrary to some popular misconceptions, the Cyber Innovation Center is not a one-trick-Pony.
Marty, I hope you’re right!
With Senator David Vitter’s announcement Friday that he had secured $1,000,000 in government funding for CIC, the time has come to look at the pros and cons.
They didn't wink, they blinked
When the idea was first pitched, CIC was to be the civilian support component of the Air Force Cyber Command. We were told that Cyber Command would bring up to 10,000 new jobs to the area. When the location of Cyber Command became uncertain, we were still assured. Mayor Lo Walker said it was a ‘done deal’. CIC Director Craig Spohn said that "he's seen winks and nods from Air Force bigwigs."
He also said"Cyberspace is where the next big threat to industry, individuals and national security is."
"Artillery and nuclear missiles will not be the weapons of the future.”
The Bossier Parish Police Jury was just as optimistic and hired a high powered Washington lobbying firm to secure Barksdale as headquarters – at a cost of $15,000 per month.
That didn’t work out too well. The Air Force decided not to create a new command after all, and incorporated the cyber operations into a command at Lackland AFB in Texas.
Global Strike Command, however, did stand up at Barksdale recently. It is concerned with those missles that ‘will not be the weapons of the future’.
CIC says that they are adjusting to support the current mission.
Cash Cow or White Elephant?
According to Spohn, when CIC opens in a couple of months a full complement of industries will be on the ground to support its mission, both for the private sector as well as the military. “I’m in discussions with corporations like Microsoft, Dell and Cisco that have expressed willingness and interest in setting up labs and doing manufacturing here,” Spohn says. “So in addition to the knowledge-based workers we’ll have in terms of research, we’ll have people in the manufacturing community who build things like virus protection and intrusion protection software, hardware components that live on a network and monitor its activities. We’re going to have a broad range of activity here, and it’s some pretty sexy science.”
Spohn said at one point that he even has plans to build an additional 380,000 square feet of offices to house educational, research and manufacturing operations near the base.
When asked about specifics, however, Spohn cites ‘secrecy’. Since Spohn has assured us that the current building will be filled to overflow and that it will be necessary to build another, then we will assume that the Center can pay it’s own way as it goes.
I hope Mr. Spohn realizes that the identity of the companies locating there cannot be kept secret. Better to tell us now, without getting into specifics, who the companies are and what sort of revenue they will generate for CIC in the near and distant future.
The City of Bossier City, the Bossier Parish Police Jury, a couple of million dollars of taxpayer money and ‘secrecy’ just cause some uneasiness in certain quarters.
For more local views on CIC, read Professor Jeff Sadow’s comments in his blog post Government must cut cyber venture capital losses now and Marty Carlson’s column in the Press-Tribune Contrary to some popular misconceptions, the Cyber Innovation Center is not a one-trick-Pony.
Marty, I hope you’re right!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
DOD announces New Pentagon Cyber Command
How will this affect the Air Force Cyber operations and ultimately our $100,000,000 investment in CIC?
From the Wall Street Journal:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to nominate the director of the National Security Agency to head a new Pentagon Cyber Command, which will coordinate computer-network defense and direct U.S. cyber-attack operations, according to a draft memo by Mr. Gates.
The move comes amid rising concern in the government about attacks on U.S. networks. The command will run military cybersecurity operations and provide support to civil authorities, according to the memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
NSA Director Keith Alexander, a three-star general, is expected to earn a fourth star when he moves to his new job at the Cyber Command. The memo doesn't state that directly, but says that his deputy at the new command will be of a three-star rank. It isn't clear who will succeed him at the NSA.
The Department of Homeland Security is charged with securing the government's nonmilitary networks, and cybersecurity experts said the Obama administration will have to better define the extent of this military support to Homeland Security. "It's a fine line" between providing needed technical expertise to support federal agencies improving their own security and deeper, more invasive programs, said Amit Yoran, a former senior cybersecurity official at the Homeland Security Department.
The new command is necessary, the memo says, because "our increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to our national security." At least initially, it will be part of U.S. Strategic Command, which is currently responsible for securing the military's networks and waging attacks on the Internet.
An announcement of the new command is expected after the Obama administration finishes its recommendations for cybersecurity policy, which could come as soon as next week.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Mr. Gates is "planning to make changes to our command structure to better reflect the increasing threat posed by cyber warfare," but "we have nothing to announce at this time." The NSA referred calls to the Pentagon.
Mr. Morrell said cybersecurity is a major priority for Mr. Gates and his 2010 budget proposal calls for hiring hundreds more cybersecurity experts.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to nominate the director of the National Security Agency to head a new Pentagon Cyber Command, which will coordinate computer-network defense and direct U.S. cyber-attack operations, according to a draft memo by Mr. Gates.
The move comes amid rising concern in the government about attacks on U.S. networks. The command will run military cybersecurity operations and provide support to civil authorities, according to the memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
NSA Director Keith Alexander, a three-star general, is expected to earn a fourth star when he moves to his new job at the Cyber Command. The memo doesn't state that directly, but says that his deputy at the new command will be of a three-star rank. It isn't clear who will succeed him at the NSA.
The Department of Homeland Security is charged with securing the government's nonmilitary networks, and cybersecurity experts said the Obama administration will have to better define the extent of this military support to Homeland Security. "It's a fine line" between providing needed technical expertise to support federal agencies improving their own security and deeper, more invasive programs, said Amit Yoran, a former senior cybersecurity official at the Homeland Security Department.
The new command is necessary, the memo says, because "our increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to our national security." At least initially, it will be part of U.S. Strategic Command, which is currently responsible for securing the military's networks and waging attacks on the Internet.
An announcement of the new command is expected after the Obama administration finishes its recommendations for cybersecurity policy, which could come as soon as next week.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Mr. Gates is "planning to make changes to our command structure to better reflect the increasing threat posed by cyber warfare," but "we have nothing to announce at this time." The NSA referred calls to the Pentagon.
Mr. Morrell said cybersecurity is a major priority for Mr. Gates and his 2010 budget proposal calls for hiring hundreds more cybersecurity experts.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Local governments trying to breathe life into cyber efforts
So now we're spending $15,000 per month in an attempt to salvage a 'done deal'? Looks like a desperate CYA to me. The proof will be in the pudding. If they make this thing the big money making tax producer it was made out to be when the City, Parish and State put up $107,000,000 for it I'll be the first to apologize for my myopic vision.
Bossier Parish and Bossier City have hired a heavyweight Washington lobbying firm whose co-founder is chief of President-elect Obama's transition team.
The Bossier governments did so to further their cyber-related efforts, both military and civilian.
"Where we are today is, from a perspective of what's going on in the country, we felt it was necessary to get very qualified support at the federal level because of the change in administration," said Patrick Jackson, Bossier Parish attorney. "When that change in administration occurs, it flows through the entire U.S. government.
"And cyber is such an important part of our economic future, we wanted to make sure we got the best information and that we provided the best information at all levels of government."
In October, the parish and city hired The Podesta Group, a D.C.-based lobbying firm founded in 1988 by John and Tony Podesta. John Podesta, who was White House chief of staff under President Clinton, is the man Obama has chosen to head his transition team.
Complete story in The Times
Bossier Parish and Bossier City have hired a heavyweight Washington lobbying firm whose co-founder is chief of President-elect Obama's transition team.
The Bossier governments did so to further their cyber-related efforts, both military and civilian.
"Where we are today is, from a perspective of what's going on in the country, we felt it was necessary to get very qualified support at the federal level because of the change in administration," said Patrick Jackson, Bossier Parish attorney. "When that change in administration occurs, it flows through the entire U.S. government.
"And cyber is such an important part of our economic future, we wanted to make sure we got the best information and that we provided the best information at all levels of government."
In October, the parish and city hired The Podesta Group, a D.C.-based lobbying firm founded in 1988 by John and Tony Podesta. John Podesta, who was White House chief of staff under President Clinton, is the man Obama has chosen to head his transition team.
Complete story in The Times
Friday, November 14, 2008
CIC Director: New businesses and millions in research now here
My Bossier has watched the Air Force Cyber Command and the development of the Cyber Innovation Center from its inception.
The basis of the $100,000,000 investment in the CIC was, of course, that it would bring up to 10,000 new jobs to the area. Now that the Air Force has announced that they will not create Cyber Command as a separate entity, and have in fact based it in Colorado, how is the CIC adjusting to ensure that our investment will have a return?
KTBS is taking a look at the Cyber Innovation Center and asking the same questions we have asked in 15 posts:
Work on the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, a civilian research facility that would work with the Air Force cyber warfare system, continues -- despite a letter from the Air Force sent months ago cautioning cities looking to land cyber command against investing in new buildings.
The city, parish and state are building the facility next to Bossier Parish Community College as the first building in a research park dedicated to cyber technology. It is expected to open in a year.
Director Craig Spohn expects to have commitments from prospective tenants by April. They are looking to land high-tech companies that have military contracts and would work with cyber warfare, wherever in the military system it is located. He doesn't think taxpayer money is being wasted -- despite questions of why build a $100 million Cyber Innovation Center if the Air Force won't have a separate command for cyber warfare.
"We were never intending to be a one trick-pony with respect to the Air Force. The Air Force provided us a good catalyst and still does because of the things at Barksdale Air Force Base and it's not scheduled to go away.
"There are new businesses coming to town," Spohn insisted. "There are actually millions of dollars worth of research in the cyber field today that weren't here a year ago."
Perhaps Mr. Spohn could share the names of the businesses that have been lured here by the CIC, and give us examples of these millions of dollars of research that CIC has helped create. We could feel much more comfortable about the $100,000,000 if we had some specifics.
The basis of the $100,000,000 investment in the CIC was, of course, that it would bring up to 10,000 new jobs to the area. Now that the Air Force has announced that they will not create Cyber Command as a separate entity, and have in fact based it in Colorado, how is the CIC adjusting to ensure that our investment will have a return?
KTBS is taking a look at the Cyber Innovation Center and asking the same questions we have asked in 15 posts:
Work on the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, a civilian research facility that would work with the Air Force cyber warfare system, continues -- despite a letter from the Air Force sent months ago cautioning cities looking to land cyber command against investing in new buildings.
The city, parish and state are building the facility next to Bossier Parish Community College as the first building in a research park dedicated to cyber technology. It is expected to open in a year.
Director Craig Spohn expects to have commitments from prospective tenants by April. They are looking to land high-tech companies that have military contracts and would work with cyber warfare, wherever in the military system it is located. He doesn't think taxpayer money is being wasted -- despite questions of why build a $100 million Cyber Innovation Center if the Air Force won't have a separate command for cyber warfare.
"We were never intending to be a one trick-pony with respect to the Air Force. The Air Force provided us a good catalyst and still does because of the things at Barksdale Air Force Base and it's not scheduled to go away.
"There are new businesses coming to town," Spohn insisted. "There are actually millions of dollars worth of research in the cyber field today that weren't here a year ago."
Perhaps Mr. Spohn could share the names of the businesses that have been lured here by the CIC, and give us examples of these millions of dollars of research that CIC has helped create. We could feel much more comfortable about the $100,000,000 if we had some specifics.
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