CHALLENGES “ To address the numerous workforce challenges DoD faces, we must take a unified and coordinated approach that takes meaningful action to reduce the talent pipeline gap, increase the quality and diversity of our cyber workforce, and prioritize the personal and professional needs of our cyber practitioners. — Mr. John Sherman, DoD CIO T he scope and pace of malicious cyber activities continues to grow, even after the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant amount of disruption and resulted in lasting impacts on the global work environment. The World Economic Forum— Global Technology 2021 Report estimated a 238% increase in cyber attacks due to the massive uptick in and shift to remote work and cloud-based solutions. Additionally, state actors and affiliated hacker groups have increased their attacks targeting the federal government and private industry. Some recent cyber attacks from foreign actors that threaten the Nation’s security are the SolarWinds hack, which was directed by the Russian Intelligence Service, the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline by a Russia-linked cybercrime group, and cyber espionage and other malicious cyber ” operations targeting a range of government and private-sector organizations across industries from Iranian-linked hackers. To combat current and future cyber threats and attacks, the DoD must employ an agile, highly skilled and diverse cyber workforce. The Department must also expand its cyber workforce with various roles and develop talent to securely build, operate and maintain its digital and critical infrastructures and protect and defend our data against cyber adversaries at home and abroad. However, there is a recognized shortage of skilled cyber personnel that could potentially impact operational readiness across the Department and put national security at risk. Despite the vast expansion of cyber educational and experiential opportunities, the Nation’s cyber talent pipeline remains limited. 6