🇺🇸 Five people whose work supported missions at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency at Fort George G. Meade died by suicide within a month of each other this summer.

The unusual cluster of suicides in June and July follows efforts by the agencies and the Anne Arundel County military installation, where the country’s top cyber warfare units are based, to address the mental health of the 18,000 service members and 41,000 civilian employees there.

The nation’s cyber warriors at Fort Meade put in long, stressful hours, often in secure, windowless rooms called SCIFs, identifying cyberattacks and defending against them. The work has been intensified by the war with Iran and the race for new artificial intelligence models. The jobs, however, often isolate them from friends and family.

The recent suicides highlight that while mental health has become an increasing priority, a culture of silence continues to threaten leaders in one of the state’s most critical defense institutions.

“No one’s really surprised to hear about another suicide,” said Ryan Shaban, an Army veteran and cybersecurity professional who said he has friends in U.S. Cyber Command who are similarly struggling with mental health.

Shaban said many don’t report their concerns for fear of jeopardizing their security clearance. He’s running in Anne Arundel’s 31st District for a seat in Maryland’s House of Delegates and says he’s lost multiple friends in cyber and national security to suicide over the years.

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