Officials of the departments identified familiar challenges to filling cyber positions, including inadequate funding, difficulties with recruitment, and difficulties with retention. Image: II.studio/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffDHS fully carries out 14 of the 15 key workforce planning practices applicable to cybersecurity positions and partially implements the other, GAO has said in the latest of a long line of reports on agency challenges in staffing those positions, but the other four departments GAO reviewed fell fall short of that mark.
Of those elements in the OPM workforce planning guide, found HHS had fully implemented only one, VA and Commerce three, and Treasury five, although VA had partially carried out 10 others, Treasury four and Commerce and HHS three. GAO said it chose those departments because they have the largest numbers of cybersecurity employees outside DoD.
All of them had fully or partially completed steps toward setting a strategic direction for their cyber workforces, GAO said, but only DHS had fully completed steps related to analyzing the workforce, developing an action plan, implementing and monitoring it, and evaluating it and revising it as needed.
“Most of the selected departments reported that they had not fully implemented all 15 practices due, in part, to managing their cybersecurity workforces at the component level rather than the departmental level, as intended by OPM,” GAO said. “Until the departments implement these practices, they will likely be challenged in having a cybersecurity workforce with the necessary skills to protect federal IT systems and enable the government’s day-to-day functions.”
Officials of the departments identified familiar challenges to filling cyber positions, including inadequate funding, difficulties with recruitment, and difficulties with retention. While each has taken some steps to address those challenges, none had evaluated those actions, it added, and unless they do, they will be unable to determine the extent to which they had been effective.
GAO made a total of some two dozen recommendations to the five departments, resulting in a mix of agreements, disagreements and non-reactions. GAO in turn reiterated those recommendations.
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