HR 3107 Reported in House – Boots-on-the-Ground Act

Last week the House Homeland Security Committee filed their report on HR 3107, the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act. This bill would require the DHS Secretary to establish cybersecurity occupation classifications, assess the cybersecurity workforce, and to develop a strategy to address identified gaps in the cybersecurity workforce,

The revisions made to the original language during the Committee Markups of this bill resulted in two significant additions:

• The requirement for the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the assessment of the cybersecurity workforce; and

• The requirement for the Secretary to report to Congress on the feasibility of establishing a Cybersecurity Fellowship Program to offer a tuition payment plan for undergraduate and doctoral candidates who agree to work for the Department of Homeland Security.

Since there is little more in this bill beyond compiling reports and making plans there is no reason that this bill would not pass in the House if it makes it to the floor. I expect that there is a decent chance that this bill will considered under a suspension of the rules process on a day when the House considers a number of similarly innocuous cybersecurity bills.