CyberWire Daily - Stephen Hamilton: Getting the mission to the next level. [Military] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: October 27, 2024

Enjoy this special encore episode where we are joined by Army Cyber Institute Technical Director and Chief of Staff Colonel Stephen Hamilton, as he takes us on his computer science journey. Fascinated with computers since the second grade, Stephen chose West Point after high school to study computer science. Following graduation he moved into the signal branch as it most closely matched his interest in ham radio as no branch related directly to computing. He was pulled from the motor pool to help with another area's computing needs and then worked his way to teaching computer science at. West Point and US Cyber Command. Stephen recommends coding it first to help realize the nuances, and then code it again. We thank Stephen for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try Delete.me. I have to say, Delete.me is a game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected. Delete.me's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done. Take control of your data and keep your private life Thank you. JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and use promo code N2K at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and enter code N2K at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K, code N2K. My name is Stephen Hamilton, and I'm a colonel in the United States Army, and I am currently working at the Army Cyber Institute as a technical director and the chief of staff.

Computers have fascinated me since I was probably in the second grade. I had the VIC-20. I wrote some basic programs. I had the old Compute magazine. It was difficult back then. I had one computer class, I think, by the time I graduated high school, and I obviously did well in that class. But my whole goal was to do computer science.

The military became a different part, and it was mostly because I went to go to my brother's dorm at the University of Texas at Arlington, and it just seemed chaotic, and I just felt like I needed more order. So I ended up applying and then coming to West Point. So that's what got me started. And then, of course, when I was at West Point,

computer science was my degree of choice as soon as I hit the ground. And then, of course, when I was at West Point, computer science was my degree of choice as soon as I hit the ground. After I graduated, I had a difficult time choosing a branch because there wasn't any branch that directly related to computing. The one thing that I did hold on to is the fact that I already had my ham radio license. I was interested in radio. And so I decided to branch Signal. And I think that that made sense at the time.

Then after that, there was this, that was kind of a funny story, but there was somebody that came to the motor pool and they said, hey, we heard that you're a computer scientist. We have this thing that's written in cold fusion and nobody knows how to operate it. And I was thing that's written in cold fusion and nobody knows how to operate it. And I was like, oh no, cold fusion, that's terrible. And they're like, wait a minute, you've heard of it? And I was like, oh yeah, I've used it when I was growing up or when

I was at West Point. And so they're like, oh, well, you're our guy, you're coming up. So I immediately moved to the G6 and I started programming a cold fusion web application called TACWeb. It became evident to me how important it was when I met with the commanding general and he's like, so you're my TACWeb guy. He's like, this is what I want you to do. I need this override status on this specific report. And it was very, very detailed. General Sharp was absolutely amazing with telling me exactly what he wanted.

And so I spent a couple, about two and a half years probably just working on that website. Code it first and realize what you're trying to do. Understand the nuances of it. Throw that code away and then just code it again. And then you'll have that elegant solution. And I even do that with my writing as well. But I think that that sometimes your brain has to just understand what's going on. And there's, you can design and plan all you want, but when you actually write the code at the end of the day,

and I'm not knocking design, believe me, not at all, but I'm just saying that sometimes you'll write it and you'll realize that there was just nuances that you didn't plan for. And once you've done it though, and you've walked down that lane, you can go back and say, just like you said, then you can say, oh, there's a way better way of doing this. When I left Fort Stewart, I ended up working on another website for like a battalion tracking, so more of a tactical level at Fort Hood. And that was just because word of mouth in the Army happens. And I had a battalion commander who was like,

hey, I heard you did a bunch of cool web stuff at Fort Stewart. I need you to fix this. And it was like our training slides and tracking our soldiers. And that became super fascinating and i and i worked on that i also worked on a bunch of uh uh communications equipment because that's when i deployed to iraq and i so i was kind of working two pieces one was i was like the automation training person but i was also the operations person for uh for the networks and trying to figure out how to monitor them efficiently and And then I will say as a junior officer or even a junior major, I guess, a senior captain,

I did my company command, but I really got to a point where I felt like I was getting burned out. I had two kids and I was gone all the time. I was working weekends and I really hit a burnout point. So I was planning on getting out of the Army. all the time. I was working weekends and I really hit a burnout point. So I was planning on getting out of the army. And my last ditch effort was I applied to teach at West Point in the computer science department. I thought that would be a cool thing because first it would give me to advance my degree. I could go back and learn more about computer science. It was a challenging and rewarding assignment that it gave me pretty stable hours too for the family as my kids were young at that point.

So that's kind of what happened there. And then basically by the time I was leaving, we were in a high deployment time, 2011, but the cyber was just kicking off and General Alexander personally came up to West Point. He pulled us all into cyber comms. That's how I got my cybercom assignment working in the J5. One of the things that's helped me become successful is the first thing I would do is start with why. You just got to be flexible and you just got to be positive.

And you got to have your why. Do you feel like you're doing what you do? Is it important? Is the mission getting done? Or if you understand what the organization is trying to do, your heart should be in getting that organization there. It's not a selfish thing. It's not about you improving.

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