DHS cyber hiring program got off on the wrong foot, CIO says, but progress is showing

A top tech official at the Homeland Security Department acknowledged to Congress today that a special hiring program could have been put to better advantage at a time when the department — and government writ large — is struggling to attract cybersecurity talent.

The Cybersecurity Talent Management System, authorized by Congress in 2014 and launched by DHS in 2021, has so far resulted in 345 job offers and 189 employees currently working in the Office of the Chief Information Officer at DHS, as well as at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 

"While CTMS is delivering significant results, its rollout was not without challenges," DHS CIO Eric Hysen told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. "It took us too long from receiving the authority to launch the program and begin hiring under it, and our initial rate of hires has been slower than expected."

As Nextgov/FCW previously reported, it took DHS six months to make its first hire under CTMS, and the agency struggled to get its numbers up over the course of the first year of the program.

Hysen told Congress that the department has almost 2,000 cybersecurity vacancies and said that DHS "has committed to expanding CTMS" to include other agency components while also broadening the program to accommodate applicants specializing in artificial intelligence and data science. 

Additionally, Hysen stressed that the individuals hired under the program are adding value to cybersecurity efforts, and because about half of the CTMS hires are at the entry level, DHS is able to build a bench of future managers and executives. Currently, CTMS is showing a 94% two-year retention rate for hires, which exceeds overall tech industry benchmarks, Hysen said. That means for the future, DHS could expect to see "reduced labor time and costs associated with recruitment and backfilling."

At the hearing, which included witnesses from cybersecurity operations at the White House, the Defense Department, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., noted that the Republican-led House of Representatives was intending to vote that day on a funding bill that would trim Hysen's budget by $2 million over last fiscal year and $6 million below the Biden administration's request.

"So I just suggest that perhaps we revisit that [since] this is a time to be doubling down on these recruitment efforts," Magaziner said. "So perhaps we can all work together to try to plus-up that funding as we go through the appropriations process."