Senate advances bipartisan legislation to recruit, retain federal cybersecurity workforce

Legislation from U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) that aims to revamp and reenergize the federal cybersecurity workforce passed a major hurdle this week after it won advancement through the Senate.

Reckoning with a world at times inseparable from its digital aspects, the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act (S.1097) seeks to recruit, train and retain professionals to bolster the federal cyber workforce as it struggles to simultaneously face increasingly potent threats and maintain the personnel needed to combat them. Often, it comes down to the simple fact that government agencies struggle to provide salaries and benefits viewed as competitive with the public sphere.

“Cyberattacks pose a significant threat to our nation and are only becoming more sophisticated and frequent,” Peters said. To fight back against this threat, protect American networks, and safeguard personal information – the federal government must have a highly skilled cyber workforce. This commonsense legislation will help provide federal cybersecurity professionals with the tools and skills to deter foreign adversaries and criminal organizations from breaching our nation’s information technology systems and disrupting the lives and livelihoods of Americans.”

To do this, the legislation would establish a civilian personnel rotation program for cybersecurity professionals throughout federal agencies, allowing those employees to work with multiple government agencies. In theory, this would provide them experience well beyond their initial purview, as well as expand their professional networks for life during and after government service.

“Our legislation will help retain our existing cyber-workforce while also boosting collaboration between agencies to ensure our nation is better equipped to deal with threats,” Hoeven said. “Given the increase in cyber threats and the growing complexity of these attacks, it’s vital our federal workforce has the knowledge and skills to fight back.”

An identical bill from the House (H.R.3599) was received by the Senate earlier this year.