DHS HSAAC Meeting to Address Cybersecurity

DHS has posted a meeting notice in Monday’s Federal Register (78 FR 39301-39302, available on-line Saturday) for the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council (HSAAC) for July 17^th 2013 in Washington, DC. Cybersecurity presentations are expected to be made by the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity in response to recent taskings by Secretary Napolitano.

At the last HSAAC meeting Secretary Napolitano provided a tasking letter for the Subcommittees that included six specific cybersecurity jobs program taskings for the Cybersecurity Subcommittee. While the other subcommittees also received taskings in that letter, the meeting notice focuses on the expected responses from the Cybersecurity Subcommittee.

The Secretary asked the Cybersecurity Subcommittee to look at:

1. How to attract students, student veterans and recent graduates to cybersecurity jobs at DHS;

2. How DHS can better promote the DHS/ National Security Agency National Centers of Academic Excellence cybersecurity programs to the higher education community;

3. How to define the core elements of cybersecurity degree and certificate programs to prepare graduates for mission-critical cyber jobs at DHS;

4. How DHS can facilitate and strengthen strategic partnerships with industry, national labs, colleges, universities and others to build the cybersecurity workforce;

5. How DHS can partner with academia to build a pipeline of diverse students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM); and

6. How key subcategories in cybersecurity – such as policy, critical infrastructure, human factors, intellectual property, and others – can inform academic pathways to meet national needs.

Public participation in the meeting is being solicited by DHS. Public comments on the topics listed above may be submitted for the Council’s consideration before they adopted for forwarding to the Secretary. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # DHS-2013-0044). There will also be a public comment period during the meeting, with a 3-minute time limit for speakers. Register in advance to make public comments with the Office of Academic Engagement (AcademicEngagement@hq.dhs.gov).

NOTE: As I have come to expect from DHS (excepting the Coast Guard), there appears to be no provisions for web casting this meeting. One of these days the rest of DHS will enter the 21^st Century.