The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has approved a bill to give the DHS secretary hiring and compensation authorities for cybersecurity experts similar to those of the defense secretary.
The DHS Cybersecurity Workforce Recruitment and Retention Act of 2014, S-2354, will head to the Senate floor for consideration.
The committee says DoD and NSA have personnel authorities that have enabled them to build and maintain a strong cybersecurity workforce, and argues that the bill would give DHS new tools to hire at the same speed and with comparable salaries to DoD. The bill also would require DHS to report annually and maintain transparency.
Attached to the bill is an amendment that would require DHS to implement the National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework to provide a common lexicon for cybersecurity work, a uniform classification system for job functions, and specific employment codes, according to the committee.
