CybersecurityBill bolsters DHS’s cybersecurity workforce

A House panel recently approved HR 3107, a bill aiming to bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s  cybersecurity workforce.

On 29 October 2013, the House Homeland Security Committee amended the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act to expand DHS’ outreach to candidates for IT security jobs by creating a tuition-for-work fellowship and a program to recruit military veterans and unemployed IT specialists for DHS employment. Representative William Keating (D-Massachusetts) said the legislation necessary, citing a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which showed that 22 percent of the jobs in DHS’ National Protection and Programs Directorate, the unit that houses cybersecurity personnel, were vacant in June.

GovInfoSecurity reports that provisions in the bill include:

●  A requirement for DHS to provide contractors with frequent training on how to protect sensitive and classified information related to their assignments. “This provision is responsive to the known vulnerabilities associated with the over-reliance on contractors as underscored by the Edward Snowden case,” said the bill’s sponsor, Representative Yvette Clarke (D-New York).
● The bill would require DHS to adopt occupation classifications for employees performing activities within DHS’ cybersecurity initiatives; DHS would be required to share the classifications with other federal agencies.
● DHS will develop strategies to enhance readiness, capacity training, and recruitment and retention of the DHS cybersecurity workforce. A multi-phased recruitment plan and a ten-year projection of federal workforce needs would be developed by DHS as part of the bill.
● DHS’ chief human capital officer and chief information officer will assess the readiness and capacity of DHS to meet its mission to protect public and private-sector IT systems.
● The DHS secretary will update congress on the development and implementation of cybersecurity strategies, assessments, and training.

The proposed cybersecurity fellowship program will require the federal government to subsidize tuition of undergraduates and graduate students in exchange for a commitment to work several years as a DHS cybersecurity specialist. “This would create an opportunity for DHS to compete with the private sector in attracting the very, very best and the very, very brightest students who graduate with degrees in information assurance, computing security, which also gives us the opportunity to vet accurately, through a process of recruiting, very talented individuals,” says Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), the amendment’s sponsor.

GovInfoSecurity notes that DHS currently focuses its cybersecurity recruitment and training efforts on students, recent graduates, and current DHS employees, but those programs do not consider unemployed college graduates with cybersecurity experience or veterans who have developed military skills that could be useful in the cybersecurity field. The panel adopted an amendment to encourage DHS to consider veterans and unemployed computer technologist in its IT staff recruitment efforts. “DHS needs a plan to seek out these individuals, bring them into the department, and help train them for a job in cybersecurity,” says Representative Eric Swalwell (D-California).

Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) noted that the amendment, focused on recruiting veterans and unemployed college graduates, could result in less qualified IT security personnel. “To put an onus on the department to try to hire, for instance, the unemployed as opposed to somebody who may be currently employed, may sound good in some circles,” Chaffetz says. “But I want to make sure it’s crystal clear that we’re trying to hire the very best people that deal with the safety and security of the people of this nation, and that should be our first and foremost goal here moving forward.”

Swalwell expressed that the amendment would not diminish the qualifications for IT security specialists hired by DHS. “The intent is to broaden who we are looking at, not eliminating (individuals) who were looked at for the cybersecurity workforce,” Swalwell said.