Office of the National Cyber Director Creating Cyber Workforce Strategy

The Office of the National Cyber Director is developing a cybersecurity strategy that would help the federal government overcome workforce challenges.

According to Camille Stewart Gloster, deputy national cyber director for technology and ecosystem security at the ONCD, the workforce plan will focus on training and education, among other things. For federal agencies, Gloster stated that the strategy will help them develop more cohesive efforts to address gaps in securing cyber talent.

There will be a strong focus on implementation mechanisms and collaboration at the leadership level, which Gloster said would help achieve the goals set by ONCD, Federal News Network reported.

Government officials have been saying that agencies will not be able to compete with the private sector when it comes to hiring cyber talent. However, organizations have been turning to rotational programs to allow them to borrow staff from private institutions for short periods of time.

There is currently a low cybersecurity workforce supply across the U.S., according to data from CyberSeek. Figures reveal that while over a million professionals are employed as members of the cyber workforce, more than 700,000 cybersecurity job openings remain.

The Federal Chief Information Officers Council also predicted that the federal government will experience a shortage of 1.8 million cyber professionals in 2022. The gap means there would be a lack of experts who could protect critical infrastructure, the Defense Information Systems Agency said in a report issued in August.