About

Advancing Cyber Education and Workforce

Values*:

The NICE program and activities are led by the following core values.

• Communication: Fostering communication builds understanding and trust across stakeholders and supports community-developed approaches and solutions.
• Collaboration: Active collaboration brings together viewpoints and perspectives to achieve the best outcomes in furtherance of a common goal.
• Continuous Improvement: Regularly reviewing and making incremental changes to processes, approaches, and activities ensures alignment with evolving needs.
• Innovation: Inspiring, experimenting with, and pursuing new approaches and innovative solutions.
• Openness and Transparency: Ensuring visibility of processes and information to increase confidence, garner support, and better serve our community.

Overview:

NICE got its start in 2008 via the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative and was originally aimed at making the Federal workforce better prepared to handle cybersecurity challenges. In May 2009, the scope was expanded beyond the Federal workforce to include the private sector workforce, truly making NICE a national charge. At the time, several federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, Department of Education, and others led various components of NICE. A few years later, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 Title IV established the “National cybersecurity awareness and education program”, to be led by NIST, thus formally establishing the NICE Program Office. Previously known as the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, NICE now goes only by its acronym to reflect an institutionalized program working to advance cyber education and workforce development.

NICE fulfills its mission by coordinating with government, academic, nonprofit, and industry partners to build on existing successful programs, facilitate change and innovation, and bring leadership and vision to increase the number of skilled cyber professionals helping to keep our Nation secure.

Credit: NICE

Get more of an overview of NICE through our NICE Program Office Brochure

NICE Strategic Plan

The NICE Strategic Plan is the result of engagement and deliberation among NICE partners in government, academia, and industry. The overall intent of the Strategic Plan is to provoke a national conversation and guide action on how to address the critical shortage of a skilled cyber workforce.

Learn more about NICE through the NICE Strategic Plan*.

* Refreshed NICE Mission, Vision, and Values and the new 2026-2030 NICE Strategic Plan are pending final publication and should be considered pre-decisional.