Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano participated in the 2 October meeting of the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s (HSAC) Task Force on Cyberskills. They discussed the Task Force’s new report which focuses requirements how to “build a world-class cybersecurity team and a strong pipeline for the future.” The report, which contains eleven recommendations grouped under five key objective headings, was unanimously approved by the full Council on 1 October, and is the result of three months’ work following the formation of the Task Force at Secretary Napolitano’s direction in July 2012.

Secretary Napolitano said, “DHS is committed to working with our partners at universities and throughout the private sector to develop the next generation of cyber professional to protect against evolving cyber threats. I appreciate the Task Force’s hard work and dedication to helping the Department build a safe, secure, and resilient cyberspace.”

The five key objectives

Objective I: Ensure that the people given responsibility for mission-critical cybersecurity roles and tasks at DHS have demonstrated that they have high proficiency in those areas.

Objective II: Help DHS employees develop and maintain advanced technical cybersecurity skills and render their working environment so supportive that qualified candidates will prefer to work at DHS.

Objective III: Radically expand the pipeline of highly qualified candidate for technical mission-critical jobs through innovative partnerships with community colleges, universities, organizers of cyber competitions, and other federal agencies.

Objective IV: Focus the large majority of DHS’s near term efforts in cybersecurity hiring, training, and human capital development on ensuring that the Department builds a team of approximately 600 federal employees with mission-critical cybersecurity skills.

Objective V: Establish a “CyberReserve” program to ensure a cadre of technically proficient cybersecurity professionals are ready to be called upon if and when the nation needs them.