ManTech International Corporation (NASDAQ:MANT) won a contract by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Security Division, to support cybersecurity services for the FBI. The contract has a five-year period of performance with total value of $99.5 million.

According to the firm, “ManTech will provide 24/7 cybersecurity support, including intrusion-detection monitoring, security engineering, incident identification and response, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, cyber-threat analysis, and specialized cyber training services. ManTech will use ISO 9001-compliant security processes and will introduce new security technologies to reduce the risks associated with cyber threats.”

“Based on our long experience in cybersecurity and supporting the FBI, we understand the significant role of this effort to the FBI’s mission and to national security,” said L. William Varner, president, ManTech’s Mission, Cyber and Technology Solutions group. “We look forward to supporting the FBI with world-class cyber security capabilities to further enhance its preparedness and ability to respond to internal and external cyber threats.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert S. Mueller testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee at the “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” hearing yesterday, discussing ways in which the Bureau responded  to national threats over the last year.

Mueller pointed to numerous national cases in terrorism, threats to national intelligence, cyber threats, financial crimes, public corruption, gang violence and felony crimes and outlined the FBI’s solutions to fighting this problem.

“These examples underscore the complexity and breadth of the FBI’s mission to protect the nation in a post-9/11 world,” Mueller said. “They also demonstrate how the FBI has evolved as a threat-based, intelligence-driven agency in responding to these threats, and how the FBI will meet these challenges in the years to come.”

Mueller pointed out the failed Times Square bombing, the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on December 25, 2009 and homegrown extremist acts as examples of how terrorist threats continuously evolve.

“These terrorist threats are diverse, far-reaching, and ever-changing,” he explained. “Combating them requires the FBI to continue improving our intelligence and investigative programs, and to continue engaging our intelligence and law enforcement partners, both domestically and overseas.”

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It’s a good time to be a geek.

Hoping to jump-start a flagging vision for stronger cybersecurity, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (right) has announced the department will hire as many as 1,000 cybersecurity professionals over the next three years.

The announcement came Thursday as Napolitano kicked off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. “This new hiring authority will enable DHS to recruit the best cyber analysts, developers, and engineers in the world to serve their country by leading the nation’s defenses against cyber threats,” said Napolitano in remarks delivered at a Washington cybersecurity forum.

And, in what may further competition with industry for already sought-after talent, Napolitano stated that one of the hiring goals will be “to bring some of that expertise into the public sector.”

Plan to recruit cyber ‘best’: doable?

How realistic is Napolitano’s vision to recruit the “best cyber analysts, developers and engineers in the world”? Not very, says threatpost’s Dennis Fisher: “That’s an overly optimistic and simplistic view of the situation … Recruiting the ‘best’ requires a number of things, not the least of which is money …another problem is that many of the best security professionals in the world don’t live in the United States.”

Still, it’s a start. Napolitano’s vision for a “world-class cyber organization” comes at a time of growing uncertainty over the Obama administration’s approach to cybersecurity. Back in May, President Obama released the findings of a much-anticipated 60-day cybersecurity review conducted by Melissa Hathaway. Obama followed up those findings with the announcement that a cyber coordinator would be appointed.

In other news: still no cyber coordinator

Nearly five months after the government’s release of the 60-day cybersecurity review, the position for cyber coordinator remains unfilled. On Sept. 9, however, Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra announced that the FBI’s Deputy Assistant Director of the Cyber Division, Chris Painter, would temporarily fill the post of acting White House senior director for cybersecurity. Speaking to reporters at a Gov 2.0 Summit, Chopra stated that a permanent appointee would be named in the “not too distant future.”

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