STRATEGY

The scope and pace of malicious cyber activity continues to grow with new threats and attacks to the Nation’s infrastructure emerging daily. As a result of these threats and other cyber-related challenges, there is an enterprise-wide need to drive cultural change and further the development and sustainment of the cyber workforce.

To meet this requirement, the Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO), in close coordination with other Office of the Secretary of Defense Component heads; the Joint Staff; United States Cyber Command; and the military services, created this 2023–2027 DoD CIO Cyber Workforce Strategy. This strategy sets the foundation for how the Department will foster a cyber workforce capable of executing the Department’s complex and varied cyber missions.

The DoD must advance the cyber workforce to meet the pacing challenges posed by our adversaries and other malicious actors while becoming the employer of choice amongst cyber professionals.

This strategy utilizes four human capital pillars—Identification, Recruitment, Development and Retention—to identify and group cyber workforce challenges. The four pillars also serve as the catalyst for targeted workforce goals, which aid the Department in unifying efforts to achieve the mission and vision of this strategy – to develop the most capable and dominant cyber workforce in the world.

Identification - The processes of determining workforce needs or requirements and the potential or incumbent workforce to meet them.
Recruitment - Identifying and attracting the talent needed to meet mission requirements and the process of evaluating the effectiveness of recruiting efforts.
Development - Understanding individual and team performance requirements and providing the necessary opportunities and resources to satisfy those performance requirements.
Retention - The incentive programs the Department employs to retain talent and the process of evaluating the effectiveness of the incentive programs.

Successful execution of this strategy will accomplish the following goals:

• Goal 1: Execute consistent capability assessment and analysis processes to stay ahead of force needs.
• Goal 2: Establish an enterprise-wide talent management program to better align force capabilities with current and future requirements.
• Goal 3: Facilitate a cultural shift to optimize Department-wide personnel management activities.
• Goal 4: Foster collaboration and partnerships to enhance capability development, operational effectiveness, and career broadening experiences.

Achieving these goals will enable the DoD to close workforce development gaps, resource workforce management and development initiatives, stay at the forefront of technological advances, securely and rapidly deliver resilient systems, and transform into a data-centric organization with optimized data analytics.

A forthcoming implementation plan will outline a prioritized list of implementation activities the DoD will pursue to achieve the goals and objectives of this strategy. This strategy, along with the implementation plan, will enable the Department to identify and develop its military and civilian personnel while also implementing mechanisms to better recruit and retain a highly effective cyber workforce.