WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, John Hoeven (R-ND) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) applauded House passage of their legislation that would help recruit, develop and retain highly skilled cybersecurity professionals in the federal workforce. Agencies across the federal government face growing cyber threats, but struggle to hire and retain qualified cybersecurity employees. The bill has already passed the Senate and now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
“As we have seen, cyber-attacks pose a significant threat to our national and economic security and will only continue to grow more sophisticated. That is why we need a highly skilled federal cybersecurity workforce that will enhance our nation’s ability to fight back against online threats from foreign adversaries and criminal hackers for years to come,” said Senator Peters. “Now that this commonsense legislation has passed the House, I urge the President to sign it into law as soon as possible so we can provide federal cybersecurity professionals with additional opportunities to learn how to defend networks from complicated and evolving threats.”
“Our legislation will help the federal government to meet the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals by developing a rotational cyber workforce program that enables federal employees to serve across multiple government agencies and expand their skills,” said Senator Hoeven. “This is vital to our national security and ensuring that the federal government has the capable professionals needed to meet our nation’s cybersecurity challenges. We look forward to our legislation being signed into law.”
“The shortage of U.S. cybersecurity professionals leaves our nation vulnerable to debilitating cyberattacks,” said Senator Rosen. “As a former computer programmer, I know that in order to successfully protect our nation against a myriad of cyber threats, we must expand and strengthen our federal cyber workforce. I applaud the House of Representatives for passing this important bipartisan legislation that I helped introduce and I urge President Biden to sign this bill into law to help fill the gaps in our cyber workforce.”
Government agencies often cannot compete with the salaries and other benefits offered by tech giants in Silicon Valley, but they provide valuable opportunities to serve the country and defend our cyber front lines. The Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act creates a civilian personnel rotation program for cybersecurity professionals at federal agencies. This program would enable employees to spend time working at different government agencies, allowing them to gain experience beyond their primary assignment and expand their professional networks. The legislation will provide opportunities to help attract and retain cybersecurity experts in the federal government by offering civilian employees opportunities to enhance their careers, broaden their professional experience, and foster collaborative networks by experiencing and contributing to the cyber mission beyond their home agencies.
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