The National Security Agency (NSA) is pleased to announce a call for applications for the National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Operations Program (CAE-CO).

The CAE-CO program is open to four-year colleges and graduate level universities. This program is intended to be a deeply technical, inter-disciplinary, higher education program firmly grounded in the computer science, computer engineering, and/or electrical engineering disciplines, with extensive opportunities for hands-on applications via labs/exercises.

The NSA CAE-CO program has restructured to have two designation programs: The CAE-Cyber Operations Fundamental and CAE-Cyber Operations Advanced. Previously, the CAE-Cyber Operations program criteria and academic requirements applied to both undergraduate and graduate programs. The original program is now called the CAE-Cyber Operations Fundamental program. Different criteria for measurement and academic requirements have been created for the CAE-Cyber Operations Advanced program, which relies heavily on experiential, hands-on learning and has an academic concentration on depth rather than breadth. Coursework associated with the CAE-Cyber Operations Advanced program myst be graduate level offerings.

The CAE-CO program complements the existing CAE in Cyber Defense program, providing a particular emphasis on technologies and techniques related to specialized cyber operations (e.g., collection, exploitation and response), to enhance the national security posture of our Nation. These technologies and techniques are critical to intelligence, military and law enforcement organizations authorized to perform these specialized operations.

Information on the CAE-CO program is posted to the NSA.gov website at https://www.nsa.gov/resources/educators/centers-academic-excellence/cyber-operations/  The applications are due by midnight on 15 January 2018 and should be emailed to AskCAECyberOps@nsa.gov. Questions may also be sent to this alias.