White House lays out security workforce strategy

The US White House has announced a new strategy aimed at improving recruitment and retention of the federal cybersecurity workforce.

The first Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy is designed to address a lack of security and IT talent among federal agencies — and, by extension, the private sector — and help the government recruit top cyber talent for federal service.

In a blog post announcing the strategy, top civil service officials including US CIO Tony Scott disclosed that “the supply of cybersecurity talent to meet the increasing demand of the Federal Government is simply not sufficient”.

The action plan sets forth a strategy to encourage private sector cybersecurity leaders to see time in federal service as an essential part of their career arc.

The strategy establishes four key initiatives, including funding efforts to expand the cybersecurity workforce through education and training and establishing a recruitment strategy aimed at drawing the USA’s best cyber talent to federal service.

In addition, the strategy has components aimed at retaining and developing highly skilled talent — which includes the development of a government-wide cybersecurity orientation program for new cybersecurity professionals — and identify specific cybersecurity workforce needs.

As part of the latter initiative, the White House has committed to a plan for agencies to hire 3500 more cybersecurity specialists by January 2017.

“To address cybersecurity challenges in the immediate future, the administration will invest in the existing federal workforce through initiatives focused on training and retaining existing talent,” the blog post states.

“At the same time, the government will adjust the way it recruits, including the way it approaches talented students and potential employees in the cybersecurity workforce outside federal service.”

Image courtesy of Tom Lohdan under CC