It is DoD policy that:
(a) The Department of Defense shall recruit, develop, and retain a highly skilled cadre of professionals to support the critical IA and information technology (IT) management, technical, digital and multimedia forensics, cyber, and infrastructure protection functions required for a secure network-centric environment.(b) The DoD IASP shall be used to attract new entrants to the DoD IA and IT workforce and to retain current IA and IT personnel necessary to support the DoD's diverse warfighting, business, intelligence, and enterprise information infrastructure requirements.(c) The academic disciplines, with concentrations in IA eligible for IASP support include, but are not limited to: biometrics, business management or administration, computer crime investigations, computer engineering, computer programming, computer science, computer systems analysis, cyber operations, cybersecurity, database administration, data management, digital and multimedia forensics, electrical engineering, electronics engineering, information security (assurance), information systems, mathematics, network management/operations, software engineering, and other similar disciplines as approved by DoD Chief Information Officer (DoD CIO).(d) Subject to availability of funds, the DoD may provide grants to institutions of higher education for faculty, curriculum, and infrastructure development and academic research to support the DoD IA/IT critical areas of interest.