House lawmakers take aim at education requirements for federal cyber jobs
The top lawmakers on a key House cybersecurity panel are hoping to remove a barrier to entry for cyber jobs in the federal government.
Introduced this week, the Cybersecurity Hiring Modernization Act from Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, would prioritize skills-based hiring over educational requirements for cyber jobs at federal agencies.
Mace and Brown — the chair and ranking member of the House Oversight Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, respectively — said the legislation would ensure the federal government has access to a “broader pool of qualified applicants” as the country faces “urgent cybersecurity challenges.”
“As cyber threats against our government continue to grow, we need to make sure our federal agencies hire the most qualified candidates, not just those with traditional degrees,” Mace said in a press release Thursday. “This bill cuts red tape, opens doors to skilled Americans without a four-year diploma but with the expertise to get the job done, and strengthens our nation’s cybersecurity workforce.”
Brown said in a statement that expanding the cyber workforce is “imperative” to “meet our nation’s growing need for safe and secure systems.” The bill aims to “remove outdated hiring policies, expand workforce opportunities to a wider pool of talented applicants, and help agencies hire the staff that they need,” she added.
The bill calls on the Office of Personnel Management to annually publish any education-related changes that are made to minimum qualification requirements for federal cyber roles. OPM would also be charged with aggregating data on educational backgrounds of new hires for those cyber positions.
Agencies would still be permitted to include minimum education requirements for cyber jobs, but “only if a minimum education qualification is required by law to perform the duties of the position in the State or locality where the duties of the position are to be performed,” per the bill text. Education can be considered if that schooling “directly reflects the competencies necessary to satisfy that qualification and perform the duties of the position.”
Easing education requirements for federal cyber contracting jobs was a priority for Harry Coker, the Biden administration’s national cyber director, and other legislation in recent years has also attempted to address the issue.
Mace has also tried in the past to scrap minimum education requirements on federal cybersecurity jobs, introducing the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act in 2023. The bill passed the House but stalled out in the Senate.
