Cyber Security Ranges and Integrated Team Services Facility

Cyber Security Ranges and Integrated Team Services Facility

Tim Schaad is currently a Technical Program Director for ManTech at the DoD Cybersecurity Range (CSR) in Stafford, VA. He designed ManTech’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, and in 2014, he launched the Marine Corps Cyber Range (MCCR) and its Cyber Training and Evaluation Platform (CTEP) within the DOD Cybersecurity Range (CSR). Prior to his work at the CSR he worked in web development, instructional systems design, systems integration and implementation, security engineering, cross domain solutions, and cyber engineering. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1998 with a double major in English and Religion and minors in Physics, Linguistics, and Math.

ManTech manages the DoD Cybersecurity Range (CSR) and runs an Integrated Team Services Facility (ITSFAC). Together these solutions can provide an Advance Virtual Persistent Training Environment for Signal/Cyber/EW that Integrates with Kinetic and Synthetic Warfighter Training Systems. These solutions fit #2 A, B, C, and D.

The DOD’s major Cyber Ranges--including the Cybersecurity Range (CSR), the National Cyber Range (NCR), the C4 Assessments Division (C4AD) Range, and the Joint Information Operations Range (JIOR)—exist to provide highly realistic testing and training environments and mission support. A constellation of smaller labs and content providers collaborate with the Ranges to further enhance these capabilities. These Ranges and content providers have leveraged virtualization and cloud computing to dramatically enhance the speed, fidelity, and cost efficiencies of producing these network environments. Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and Electronic Warfare (EW), however, are fundamentally physical.

ManTech’s Integrated Team Services Facility (ITSFAC), associated with the DOD CSR, exists to fill this gap. A converted beer cannery, the ITSFAC boasts over 50,000 square feet of fully reconfigurable integration space, a faraday cage, and a mini cell tower. Since 2003, the Marine Corps and others have used the ITSFAC to support the integration of intel, C2, and other national assets in support of the warfighter.

The DOD’s Range-of-Ranges provide a rich virtual world for testing and training exercises to leverage at home station and combat training centers, and facilities like the ITSFAC provide a mechanism to inject real-world Signal and EW effects into that construct without compromising operational security.