DHS aims to boost cyber ranks by streamlining clearance approvals

At a House Homeland Security hearing, DHS CIO Eric Hysen and ONCD/NIST leaders detailed efforts to close the U.S. cyber workforce gap by streamlining clearance requirements (including broader interim Secret/TS use), accelerating pool hiring, expanding DHS’s Cybersecurity Talent Management System, and advancing skills-based hiring, while investing in K‑12 curricula, two‑year colleges, HBCUs, and rural/underserved communities, promoting remote work, and supporting legislation and funding to diversify and grow the cybersecurity talent pipeline.