The measure is the latest in a series of bills aiming to reskill federal employees for high-demand occupations. Image: christianthiel.net/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffRetraining DHS employees who currently are not in cybersecurity roles to take on those duties would help the department address its shortage of employees in that field, says a report on a House bill (HR-3208) that is now ready for a vote once Congress reconvenes after Labor Day.
The report notes that while the department has an internal program for retraining current employees to become entry level cyber defense analysts, the bill would give DHS the “flexibility needed to expand and adapt the program to address the growing cyber workforce gap.”
The bill would create a DHS Cybersecurity On-the-Job Training Program to retrain employees that could involve “distance learning, in-classroom learning, on-the-job instruction, or other means of training and education.” DHS would set criteria for participation in the program, including potential continuing service agreements, and would have to report annually on the results along with data on vacancies in cybersecurity jobs.
The measure is the latest in a series of bills aiming to reskill federal employees for high-demand occupations. The Trump administration operated a pilot program that involved retraining about 30 current employees in cybersecurity but that qualified them only for positions paying less than their current jobs and resulted in few if any placements.
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