Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday said that her department has received new authority to staff up to 1,000 cybersecurity related positions over the next three years as part of the Obama administration’s commitment to boosting the Department of Homeland Security’s capabilities in cybersecurity and helping it hire experts in this area.
The direct hiring authority, called Schedule A in government hiring parlance, allows DHS and its components to advertise for job openings and then hire applicants relatively quickly–within weeks–without going through standard federal hiring practices, which can take months. That will help level the playing field for DHS as it competes for talent in the cybersecurity job market.
“This new hiring authority will enable DHS to recruit the best cyber analysts, developers and engineers in the world to serve their country by leading the nation’s defenses against cyber threats,” Napolitano said in a statement yesterday kicking off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The roles DHS and its components will be filling include cyber risk and strategic analysis, cyber incident response, vulnerability detection and assessment, intelligence and investigation, and network and systems engineering.
DHS said it doesn’t expect it will have to fill all the positions.