Bills Introduced – 1-28-21

Yesterday with the Senate in Washington and the House meeting in pro forma session, there were 229 bills introduced. Of those bills there were two that may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 579 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a pilot competitive grant program for the development of a skilled energy workforce, and for other purposes. Rep. Norcross, Donald [D-NJ-1] 

S 121 A bill to amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish demonstration and pilot projects to facilitate education and training programs in the field of advanced manufacturing. Sen. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV] 

Similar sounding bills in previous sessions of Congress included specific mention of cybersecurity workforce development efforts. If these contain similar provisions, I will follow them in this blog.

There were two resolutions introduced and passed in the House yesterday that I will mention in passing:

H Res 62 Electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-30] – Text https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hres62/BILLS-117hres62eh.pdf

H Res 63 Electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives. Rep. Cheney, Liz [R-WY-At Large]  - Text https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hres63/BILLS-117hres63eh.pdf

These resolutions set forth the Democratic and Republican (respectively) memberships in committees in the House. There have been some earlier similar resolutions for a couple of specific committees and there will be additional resolutions making adjustments to committee memberships, but passage of these two resolutions will allow for the organization of the respective committees and allow committee work in the House to commence in earnest.

NIST Publishes Cyber Workforce Development RFI

Today the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a request for information in the Federal Register (82 FR 32172-32174) in supporting its efforts to assess the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the American cybersecurity workforce of the future in accordance with requirements of the President’s Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure Executive Order (EO 13800).

NIST is specifically requesting answers to the following questions:

1. What current metrics and data exist for cybersecurity education, training, and workforce developments, and what improvements are needed in the collection, organization, and sharing of information about cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development programs?

2. Is there sufficient understanding and agreement about workforce categories, specialty areas, work roles, and knowledge/skills/abilities?

3. Are appropriate cybersecurity policies in place in your organization regarding workforce education and training efforts and are those policies regularly and consistently enforced?

4. What types of knowledge or skills do employers need or value as they build their cybersecurity workforce?

5. Which are the most effective cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development programs being conducted in the United States today?

6. What are the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the Nation, employers, and workers in terms of cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development?

7. How will advances in technology (e.g., artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, etc.) or other factors affect the cybersecurity workforce needed in the future?

8. What steps or programs should be continued, modified, discontinued, or introduced to grow and sustain the Nation's cybersecurity workforce, taking into account needs and trends?

Comments should be submitted via email at cybersecurityworkforce@nist.gov. Comments will be posted at https://nist.gov/​nice/​cybersecurityworkforce. Comments should be submitted by August 2^nd, 2017.