Since 1985, Reports Without Borders, an international non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press, has worked to keep journalists both physically and electronically secure.

Delphine Halgand, the Washington director for Reporters Without Borders, said staying safe in the cyber realm is more important than ever.

“Your computer and information exchanged on the Internet can be very easily monitored and for journalists that can mean your sources, your data and your investigation can be monitored.”

The organization held a workshop for two dozen Medill graduate students and faculty in Chicago to talk about the risks of relying on technology for protection and what journalists can do to help make sure their data and sources stay safe.

Stephane Koch teaches Medill MSJ students about some of the potential risks of using technology when reporting in both the U.S. and abroad.

Halgand says it’s important to exercise caution when using technology because it not only houses our information, but it can also lead back to the contacts who provide it.

“Confidentially in sources is key for investigative journalists and that’s why journalists need to be aware,” she said.

Halgand said protecting sources in the U.S. helps ensure the press is able to work and investigate sensitive issues, but in some parts of the world, it’s important for an even more compelling reason.

“Abroad it’s key because it can be a question of death if a journalist is meeting a sensitive contact to interview them and then their computer is compromised,” Halgand said.

The Reporters organization aims to help journalists do their job safely on several levels.

“We provide physical safety tools like helmets and bulletproof vests, GPS beacons and other ready-for-war-zone items, but we also can provide a virtual private network and encryption software,” Halgand said.

Halgand suggested that if journalists are going to places like Iran, Vietnam or any other security-sensitive countries, they contact RWB and check out their Online Survival Kit before hopping on a plane.

“Most of the time journalists call us and say ‘I’m in Bahrain and I know the police are following me. I’m leaving in two days and I know they are going to ask me for my computer at the border but I don’t want to destroy all my interviews. What can I do?’” Halgand said.

Halgand said if journalists take time to prepare themselves, it could help prevent both those last minute issues and other ones.

Photo by Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi, U.S. Air Force.
Wreaths at graves at Arlington National Cemetery. This iconic photo helped establish Wreaths Across America as a national non-profit organization.

Right now, thousands of wreaths are being trucked to cemeteries across the country as a way to honor and remember veterans.

“The holidays are a time of year when families come together and people tend to notice an empty seat at the table a little bit more,” said Amber Caron, spokeswoman for the national not-for-profit organization Wreaths Across America.

The organization didn’t set out to become a national non-profit, or even aspire to be one.

The whole thing started as a gift from Morill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Maine.

“In 1992, he had about 5,000 extra wreaths and they were just going to get tossed,” Caron said. “He remembered a trip he had taken to Arlington as a child and it just stayed with him.”

With the help of Olympia Snowe, one of Maine’s senators at the time, Worcester got permission to bring them down to Arlington National Cemetery.

Statistics show the average person buried at Arlington is only visited three to four times ever.

Because of that, Worcester decided to lay the wreaths in an older section of the cemetery that hadn’t been visited in years.

The wreath donations continued as a gift from the Worcester family for years.

“They would lay the wreaths and it was a very private thing that not many people knew about it,” Caron said.

But all that changed with a photograph.

“In 2006, a USO photographer got a shot of a wreath in the snow and it became this iconic image,” Caron said. “It was kind of this viral sensation and big to-do back [in a time] before everything went viral.”

All of a sudden, Worcester started to receive donations from people all over the country who wanted wreaths for their own hometown.

The next year, Wreaths Across America went national. It has grown each year, especially at Arlington.

“We try to do more and more because our ultimate goal next year, which is Arlington’s 150th anniversary, is to place a remembrance wreath on each of the about 240,000 grave stones or markers that are there,” Caron said.

Arlington has seen a steady increase in wreath donations over the years. Last year, about 115,000 wreaths were placed – on about half of the graves.

This year, their goal was to do at least 130,000.

Caron said they don’t know how many will actually make it there yet because the cut off for donations wasn’t until midnight Thursday.

“So to say there is a shortage isn’t necessarily correct; we’re just basically behind the goal of that incremental increase,” Caron said.

In addition, more cemeteries are participating this year, including 16 in Illinois.

Debbie Smothers is the volunteer coordinator for Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.

“The first year that I went out to the cemetery for the Wreaths Across America ceremony, which was the first year they had it out there, I expected it to be a huge event and we had like 40 wreaths and 30 people show up.”

Smothers is also the founder of Operation Care Package, a not-for-profit with a goal of supporting troops through care packages and letters of encouragement.

She said being involved with Operation Care Package put her in a position to help promote Wreaths Across America.

Seven years later, Smothers says she is expecting about 5,500 wreaths. But she’s not done yet.

“My goal is to someday have a wreath for every veteran’s grave at Abraham.” There are close to 34,000 buried at the cemetary, and that number keeps going up: Between 17 and 21 veterans are buried there every day.

The cemetery is just one of about 900 locations across the country that are participating this year, including about 100 at which wreaths will be laid for the first time.

“Nationwide donations are up 12 percent,” Caron said. “That means all the communities where these cemeteries are located, local wreaths are being laid and people getting involved in their communities, which is a great thing.”

Smothers says that’s why awareness of the organization is so important.

“That’s the main thing, people finding out about it,” Smothers said. “So many people have no idea that they’re even here. Because it’s a veterans cemetery they think ‘Well, we don’t have anybody buried out there’ and yes, you do; those are all our family.”

Caron says one of the hardest question Wreaths Across America gets is why they put so much effort into veterans who have died when there are so many living that are in need.

“We don’t disagree or take away from the fact that there are living veterans who need help and support and, by all means, we think that that should happen,” Caron said. “But for families who have lost someone, it’s important for them to know that, even if it’s just once year, when they’re gone, someone will still come and look at that stone and take a moment to thank them for their service.”

Smothers choked up as she described what it was like one year to make sure a wreath was laid for all 19 veterans at Abraham Lincoln who had been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I couldn’t find this one particular soldier’s grave,” Smothers said. “I mentioned his name and I just said, ‘We need to find his, it should be somewhere here,’ and some guy just yells at me and says, ‘He’s right here!’ I turned around and this guy had this big grin on his face. I looked at him and he said, ‘This is my son.’ He told me it was the best thing ever to know that people are out there honoring them.”

Those involved with the organization say honoring the veterans is more important than the wreath itself.

“We make it a point that whether or not a stone gets a wreath, that there was a pause and there was a moment and there is thanks given to that person,” Caron said.

And Smothers has a message for those who might be placing a wreath for the first time this weekend.

“Take a moment and look at the veteran’s name, when he served and his age,” Smothers said. “There’s a lot to be said on those little headstones.”

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
Ray Trygstad, instructor in Information Technology and Management and IT Director of IIT School of Applied Technology teaches a class in cyber security management, which is about the management and implementation of security policies and programs in an enterprise. Students have the option of attending the class in person or via webcam.

The issue of cybersecurity is no longer limited to fear of cyber attacks. The concern now is the shortage of workers who can keep critical networks and infrastructure secure.

Despite the importance of the job, which includes protecting our data and systems from hackers, data leaks and viruses, there is a growing shortage of people who are willing and able to do it.

Multiple reports show the U.S. government will need thousands of cybersecurity experts in the near future, and that’s just to start.

Earlier this year, a technology survey found the demand for cyber security professionals in the past five years has grown 3.5 times faster than the demand for other IT jobs and about 12 times faster than the demand for all other jobs.

The need for more cybersecurity workers, specifically in government agencies, is increasing every day.

A March report from the Department of Homeland Security found 32 percent of workers are either eligible for retirement or will be within the next three years. It also found nearly 80 percent of those currently working in cybersecurity are 40 or older and just a little more than 5 percent are 30 or younger.

Younger people may not be choosing the career because they don’t know it’s an option. In October, a technology company survey found 82 percent of millennials, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, say careers in cybersecurity were never presented.

“It’s just a matter of exposure, it’s a matter of them being aware,” said Ray Trygstad, director of information technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. “I think any student who gets into it finds it interesting. I have not yet encountered a student who isn’t absolutely fascinated by the subject.”

Students who have a background in computer science or technology and are eventually exposed to cyber forensics or security is one thing, but they are in the minority. The more difficult problem to fix could be students who don’t know what it is or have any interest in it. The same technology survey found less than one-quarter of young adults aged 18 to 26 believe the career is interesting at all.

“Given that we need to add thousands of cybersecurity professionals to the workforce in the coming years, the data shows we have a long way to go in engaging young people in the idea of a career path in cybersecurity,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance.

“We have to work together to ensure that young people are prepared to use technology safely, securely, ethically and productively and are aware of the interesting and rewarding jobs available protecting the Internet.”

Those who recognize the need aren’t sitting around and waiting for young people to become interested in the industry on their own. Instead, programs like the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, which has support from the Education Department and National Science Foundation, are creating curriculum aimed at students as young as kindergarten.

In February, the DHS took to cyberspace, launching the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, an online resource for cybersecurity career, education and training information.

“Cultivating the next generation of cybersecurity professionals is vital to the Department of Homeland Security in our efforts, with our partners across the government and the private sector, to ensure a safe cyber environment, protect the systems that our nation’s critical infrastructure depend on, and combat cyber crime,” said S.Y. Lee, a DHS official.

The government’s efforts to educate and recruit the next generation of cybersecurity workers is also being integrated into college and universities around the country.

Last year, Northeastern University in Boston became one of a handful of schools designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations by the National Security Agency.

Agnes Chan, a Northeastern professor and co-founder of the school’s Institute for Information Assurance, says the partnership allows undergraduate computer science majors to concentrate in the area of cyber operations by taking courses in software vulnerability and network security as well as participate in seminars run by the NSA.

Chan says the program has helped attract students to Northeastern.

“There has been a surge of interest in the computer science program here,” Chan said. “Many of our students will tell us they chose Northeastern because of the cyber operations program.”

Closer to home, the Illinois Institute of Technology offers one of the few cybersecurity degree programs in the state.

Trygstad says education is the long-term solution to the current workforce shortage.

“Its not a stopgap, it’s how we fix it,” Trygstad said. “We just have to produce more graduates who are educated and knowledgeable in the field.”

Trygstad says IIT’s Master of Cyber Forensics and Security is designed to give experienced information technology professionals the necessary knowledge and tools to fill the need for cyber security and forensics workers, investigators and managers.

While Trygstad says a shortage of students is part of the problem, he also says there is a shortage of people who can teach the programs.

“One of the issues of getting programs like this is finding experienced, competent faculty,” Trygstad said. “We were very fortunate that we have people who have tremendous background and experience.”

Too many job titles may also be part of the problem. “Cybersecurity” covers a wide range of job functions, from analysts to hardware technicians.

“There is one class I teach where I go into all the job titles in disaster recovery and business continuity just in the banking industry and there are like 40 job titles,” Trygstad said.

He says the array of job titles helps insure those in the industry don’t get burned out, but Congress says the lack of clearly defined roles cause can confuse those in the field and those thinking about going into it.

But that could change if the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act (HR 3107) passes. The bill would require DHS to classify employees with cybersecurity functions, forecast workforce needs over the next 10 years and form a strategy to recruit, train and retain workers.

Even with defined jobs and titles the government may face an uphill battle. Many officials freely acknowledge the government can’t compete with the private sector when it comes to pay. In the past, a primary advantage of being a government employee was job security, but after recent budget cuts and government shutdowns, that is no longer the case.

Still the pay is far from a deterrent. One recent survey found the average salary of a cyber security professional is $116,000 a year. But not everyone believes money is the main motive when it comes to where to work.

“Government agencies and defense/aerospace firms remain magnets for cyber security professionals,” said Jim Duffy, secretary of technology for the governor of Virginia. “For top talent, cyber security isn’t about just a job and a paycheck. It is about the hottest technology deployed by honorable organizations, for a purpose that is inherently important.”

But luring young people to the industry might have a little to do with money. Chan says if industry and government want fill the need of cybersecurity workers, they should invest more money in the form of scholarships and program funding.

“Anytime money is involved people are interested,” Chan said.

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
A picture on loan from the National Veterans Art Museum show Marines playing baseball in Ramadi.
 “There is a saying and it goes back to WWI,” Adams said. “War is long stretches of absolute boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror. So when we were bored, we would find absolutely anything we could do to occupy our minds and if we had enough time and space, stuff like this would happen, baseball or any other game that reminded us of home.”

Almost everyone has heard of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” a book that chronicles what it was like to be a soldier in Vietnam.

Through Friday, an exhibit at the University of Illinois at Chicago updates O’Brien, calling the collection of helmets, backpacks, uniforms and pocket Bibles “The Things We Carried.”

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
Adams says the bigger of the two Bibles is ubiquitous to the military, but the small bible is special. “It belonged to a WWII Navy vet and it was carried with him throughout out the Pacific,” Adams said. Also pictured is a KA-BAR knife.
“It’s a standard issued Marine Corps knife,” Adams said. “It’s kind of synonymous with the Marine Corps, you say KA-BAR and every Marine’s got one. They love it.”

It’s a collection of items and photographs culled from UIC students who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and it’s designed to give visitors a glimpse of what daily life was like for the men and women while they were deployed, fighting in past and present wars.

The student veteran who is curator of the temporary exhibit, Kenneth Adams, said, “‘The Things They Carried’ was a very influential book for me. It highlighted some of the things Vietnam era vets had carried with them and stories of the Vietnam War, and now that it’s our generation I figured we could kind of tell people what we carried.”

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
Four service uniforms show what members of the military wear. Army (far left), Navy (second to left), Marine Corps combat uniform (second to right) and Air Force (right).
“Up front is a battle cross with a flack jacket with a bullet proof vest, boonie cap and magazine pouches,” Adams said. “It’s there to show what some actually carried into combat that protected us from shrapnel and bullets.”

Members of UIC’s Student Veterans Association collected the items on display.

Adams, a pre-med biology major, said he hoped the exhibit, different from typical displays, will allow fellow students to connect with him and other student veterans.

“When you go to a museum, you see things but you can’t connect a person to an item because the person’s not there,” Adams said. “But it’s like Joe is a T.A., so he teaches kids in classes, so kids can come in and see his knife and say, ‘Oh, that’s Joe’s knife, he carried that in Iraq with him,’ or they see me in class or just walking around campus and they say, ‘Oh, that’s Kenneth Adams, that’s his helmet, he wore that in Afghanistan.’”

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
“This helmet is a standard issued ACH. They called it a K-Pot or a brain bucket,” Adams said. “My uncle gave me a cross before I left for the military, it was originally a necklace but I don’t like putting anything on my neck because of safety hazards, so I took it off and attached it to my helmet.”

The exhibit isn’t just aimed at traditional students. Adams calls one wall, which is lined with camouflage netting, “a work in progress.” He said ideally fellow veterans would see the collection and come together to share experiences with each other.

“We did this to connect the exhibit to other veterans and maybe have them make themselves part of the exhibit by putting a patch up there or a picture or something like that,” Adams said.

The exhibit, housed in UIC’s African-American Cultural Center, ends Friday. Members of UIC’s Student Veterans Association will be on hand during selected times to offer guided tours and interpretations of exhibit items as well as photographs that are on loan from the National Veterans Art Museum.

Tammy Thueringer/MEDILL
“It’s a standard issue ALICE Pack is what it’s usually called, or a LC-1 Pack,” Adams said. “The frame and design have been around forever. You can’t make something better that’s already good enough.”