A National Institute of Standards and Technology document says it aims to address two personal and national security risks: American citizens are largely unaware of cyber threats and the United States has a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. NIST published Aug. 11 a draft strategic plan (.pdf) for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, an interagency program that aims to enhance cybersecurity education and awareness nationwide.

NICE aims to "institutionalize the nation's digital literacy and cybersecurity knowledge," according to the draft document. As part of that goal, it makes recommendations to the federal government on maintaining "an unrivaled, globally competitive cybersecurity workforce."

The plan suggests that by 2012 agencies should adopt cybersecurity competency models and identify skills gaps. By 2013, says the draft strategy, federal agencies should address cybersecurity work in human resources guidance, and by 2015, state and local governments should adopt those common workforce descriptions. Descriptions would outline cyber professionals' qualifications, competencies and lay out a widely-accepted career progression. By 2015, federal contractors would be required to adopt the government's workforce descriptions.

NICE will produce an estimate of the health of the cyber workforce nationwide by 2015. According to the strategy these efforts will result in a 20 percent increase in qualified cybersecurity professionals by 2015.

The draft document also stresses the importance of promoting education in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. It suggests STEM education can be advanced through more rigorous computer science courses for Kindergarten through grade 12, and through an increase in scholarships and fellowships for advanced CS degrees. The plan also lays out public campaigns for increasing cyber awareness.

The departments of Defense, Education, Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, Office of Personnel Management and the National Security Agency collaborated with NIST on the draft strategy. NIST will accept comments, using a specific format and emailed to nicestratplan@nist.gov, through Sept. 12.

For more:
- see the draft strategic plan (.pdf)
- see the press release

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