Strengthening the Nation's Cybersecurity Workforce

The President issued an Executive Order to strengthen federal networks and critical infrastructure cybersecurity on May 11, 2017.  In part, the order states that it is the policy of the United States “to support the growth and sustainment of a workforce that is skilled in cybersecurity and related fields as the foundation for achieving our objectives in cyberspace.”  Consequently, the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Homeland Security are directed to 1) “assess the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the American cybersecurity workforce of the future, including cybersecurity-related education curricula, training, and apprenticeship programs, from primary through higher education”; and 2) “provide a report to the President with findings and recommendations regarding how to support the growth and sustainment of the Nation's cybersecurity workforce in both the public and private sectors.” 

Rodney Petersen, the Director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) led by NIST, provides an overview of the approach to meet the two deliverables described above during an interview with Federal News Radio here.