The Homeland Security Department is calling all federal IT workers to participate in a survey this fall to help assess all of the IT roles that have some level of responsibility for cybersecurity.
Michael Koehler, a program analyst at the National Cybersecurity Division’s education office at the Homeland Security Department, said Thursday during a webinar sponsored by GovLoop that DHS has partnered with the Federal CIO Council to design a survey to assess the federal IT workforce on cybersecurity issues.
“We want to find all of the people out there who may have cybersecurity responsibilities as part of their overall work,” Koehler said. “Sometimes it can be difficult to find those individuals.”
Koehler said the survey results will supplement the CIO Council’s IT workforce capability assessment, which was conducted in early 2011 and is useful for agency’s in determining the IT skills they have or need, particularly as they implement aspects of the Obama administration’s IT management reform plan.
“We’re trying to help the federal government and the agencies understand what their workforce looks like,” Koehler said. “Participation is beneficial because agencies are going to use this information to inform workforce planning and make use of the information to develop, promote and build the workforce.”
Agency leaders should be notifying employees of the survey, which will take place in October, Koehler said. The survey, which is voluntary and anonymous, is open to all federal employees with IT responsibilities, regardless of occupational series, he added.
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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