CISA opens 100 applications for CyberCorps students

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it will make 100 internship opportunities available to students participating in a government scholarship program that’s been hampered by federal hiring freezes enacted by the Trump administration. 

The move announced Wednesday would allow undergraduate and graduate students to enter the cyber defense agency under the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service Program, a longstanding workforce pipeline used to place top student talent into U.S. cybersecurity positions.

The announcement comes after the Office of Personnel Management said last month it would pursue a “mass deferment” of deadlines for CyberCorps students to land qualifying jobs, following reports showing the program has been hobbled by recent federal employment logjams and is leaving many recruits burdened by debt.

Scholarship terms stipulate that students must secure a qualifying job approved by OPM within an 18-month window after completing their studies. If they don’t meet that deadline, their scholarship funding converts into a loan, obligating them to repay the full amount they received.

Nextgov/FCW has asked OPM about the status of mass deferment deadlines and if other agencies will post CyberCorps job openings.

CISA opportunities for participants with both undergraduate and graduate degrees were recently posted on USAJobs. The agency said eligible students have until Feb. 27 of next year to submit application materials. 

“We are unwavering in our commitment to the OPM’s Scholarship for Service (SFS) program,” CISA acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala said in a statement. “It is a cornerstone of our strategy to cultivate a robust pipeline of elite cybersecurity professionals who will protect the nation’s digital and physical frontiers.”

For the undergraduate summer internship cohort, CISA said selectees will receive on-the-job training to prepare them for a federal career in a cybersecurity-related field and will be given a time-limited appointment in the excepted service, circumventing standard federal hiring procedures for the postgraduate cohort. CISA may offer selectees a full-time position, also within the excepted service.

For the last 20 years, the CyberCorps program has placed students into offices at several agencies and the Defense Department, including within the National Security Agency, Department of Energy and dozens of state, local, tribal and territorial governments, according to a 2023 biennial report.

The Wednesday announcement is a hopeful sign for many program participants who, for months, have been trying to navigate many of the hiring pauses imposed by the Trump administration earlier this year. As cyber activity from U.S. adversaries and criminal hackers escalates, CyberCorps recruits had hoped they’d be spared.

Instead, the opposite happened. Beginning as early as February, program recruits received cancellation notices for work offers at agencies like NASA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Contract Management Agency, Nextgov/FCW previously reported.

CISA’s workforce has been strongly downsized this year, amid broad White House goals to shed government bloat and spending waste, though some of those reductions are reportedly being reversed in the coming calendar year.