Cybersecurity Workforce Development: A Primer

This report unpacks the many issues and questions that collectively make up “the cybersecurity workforce development challenge” in the United States. Our aim is to inform the discussion, make the case that the challenge warrants policy intervention, and highlight areas ripe for further research and policy intervention. We argue that filling cybersecurity jobs is critical for improving U.S. cybersecurity, but that no single action, effort, or theory will address the pervasive difficulties of filling cybersecurity jobs. Instead, lasting solutions will require a network of connected policies and community-wide efforts. Accordingly, the goal of the report is to expand on the range of policy options available rather than to advocate for any one solution. However, the discussion does consider the relative merits of different policies and will endorse those policies that offer particular promise.