Revolutionary advancements in computing and communications technology have interconnected government, commercial, scientific, and educational infrastructures—including critical infrastructures for electric power, natural gas and petroleum production and distribution, telecommunications, transportation, water supply, banking and finance, and emergency and government services—in a vast, interdependent physical and electronic network.

Exponential increases in interconnectivity have facilitated enhanced communications, economic growth, and the delivery of services critical to the public welfare, but have also increased the consequences of temporary or prolonged failure.

A Department of Defense Joint Task Force concluded after a 1997 United States information warfare exercise that the results “clearly demonstrated our lack of preparation for a coordinated cyber and physical attack on our critical military and civilian infrastructure”.

While African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans constitute 25 percent of the total United States workforce and 30 percent of the college-age population, members of these minorities comprise less than 7 percent of the United States computer and information science workforce.