Preparing the Pipeline: The U.S. Cyber Workforce for the Future

Key Points

• There is widespread agreement in the public and private sectors that U.S. educational institutions are unable to meet the growing demand for cyber workforce professionals.
• It is difficult to measure the true size and requirements for the cyber workforce due to the lack of commonly agreed upon cyber workforce job titles and duty descriptions.
• The Federal Government should develop additional methods for streamlining the hiring and contracting of essential cyber talent and emphasize the recruitment of cyber workforce professionals with demonstrated competency.
• Federal, state, and local governments must compete with the private sector, academia, and international actors to recruit and hire top cyber workforce professionals.
• Innovative solutions should be increasingly used to get students engaged in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and cyber studies in order to develop skills in secondary and postsecondary students and to recruit them for government service later in life.