GAO report urges better planning, coordination of cyber workforces

An audit from the General Accountability Office has found that the eight agencies with the biggest IT budgets have trouble handling their cybersecurity workforces and determining their composition and responsibilities.

The federal government has undertaken several initiatives to man the cyber frontlines to protect public sector systems and networks. But despite comprehensive efforts governmentwide, GAO found that all the examined agencies failed to adequately coordinate, plan and evaluate these efforts to enhance the cybersecurity workforce.

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In additional to the strategic challenges, the audit found that agencies face obstacles with hiring highly technical professionals. In 2010, the Defense Department had more than 97,000 information assurance positions but about 9,000 of these positions were unfilled. At the Treasury Department, contractors are used to fill the gaps for those hard-to-fill cybersecurity positions. The departments of Commerce and Homeland Security said that while finding skilled cybersecurity staff for most positions was not an issue, certain specialized skills are still in short supply. 

GAO also found that cybersecurity training and development opportunities varied significantly among the agencies. For example,  Commerce and DOD required cybersecurity personnel to get certifications and meet continuing education requirements. Other agencies had a more lax approach.  

Agencies also had difficulty in identifying the size of the cybersecurity workforce. GAO noted the issue could be partly due to the challenge of defining a cybersecurity worker. The lack of specific federal occupational series that identifies federal cybersecurity positions, and the fact that many employees perform cybersecurity responsibilities as an additional duty also make it hard to classify a cybersecurity professional.

The departments included in GAO’s audit were: DOD, DHS, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, Transportation and Justice.