DHS to hire 1,000 cybersecurity experts

The floodgates are opening slowly at the Department of Homeland Security, where up to 1,000 cybersecurity experts will be hired in the next next three years. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week that the department will use direct hiring authority to bring on a new brigade of talented professionals, bypassing the federal government's time-consuming and onerous hiring process.

This new army of workers will be spread across the department, working in the National Protection and Programs Directorate, which contains the department's National Cybersecurity Division (NCSD). Others will work for the Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both of which have cybersecurity roles.

"The president is intent on equipping this department with the tools it needs," Napolitano said at an event last week, marking the start of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. "We expect to bring them on board over the next--at a maximum--the next three years, but we hope to do it more quickly than that."

DHS will be looking for analysts, programmers and systems engineers--talent that currently is in short supply at the department. The hiring plan will focus on strengthening the security of the federal civilian networks, as well as supporting the Secret Service in combating cyber crime. These additional staff positions will also be used to improve enterprise security requirements throughout DHS's 23 agencies, according to Napolitano.
 
For more on DHS's hiring plans:
- see this Federal Times article

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