Feds Strengthen Cybersecurity Workforce Plans

Federal agencies are making some progress on developing and executing strategies for building a stronger cybersecurity workforce, but much remains to be done, government officials and industry representatives said.

Coordinated efforts to spark improvements in the federal cybersecurity workforce, formerly part of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), have been folded into a larger effort, the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a broader national agenda, announced in April, which includes K-12 education and awareness campaigns as well as federal workforce efforts. In terms of government, NICE includes two tracks of work focused explicitly on improving the federal cybersecurity workforce -- one on workforce structure, and the other on training and professional development. Some of the work under these buckets had already begun when NICE began, but it's beginning to accelerate.