A federal working group released a cyber workforce strategy on Wednesday meant to be a cross-government action plan with 35 to-do items to help the government respond to the talent gap for cybersecurity, increase the diversity of its cyber workforce and retain cyber professionals.
The report comes from the Federal Cyber Workforce Management and Coordinating Working group, led by the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The working group has multi-agency “action teams” to drive government-wide initiatives already, it says. One ongoing focus has been aligning the government with the standards for cyber work from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, called the National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework.
But the implementation of some of the group’s recommendations will depend on action from key stakeholders like the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), the Office of Personnel Management and Congress.
This working group, established in 2019 and now composed of all 24 Chief Financial Officer Act agencies, isn’t the only body focused on the shortage of cyber workers and associated issues.
National Cyber Director Chris Inglis’ office is already working on a broader cyber workforce, education and training strategy, meant to tackle the talent shortage and push broader awareness and education about cyber.
Currently, there are nearly 39,000 open public sector cyber jobs, according to NIST-backed website Cyberseek.com. In total, there are over 714,000 openings.
“This all comes at a time when threats are increasing. Our attack surface as a nation, not just within the Department of Defense, has spread out exponentially,” said Patrick Johnson, one of three chairs for the working group and director of the Defense Department’s Cyber Workforce Management Directorate. “This type of work… is ever more impor ..
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