A senior Defense Department official recently hosted a discussion with government officials, academics, and entrepreneurs from Indonesia to discuss how the Pentagon is aligning its cyber workforce strategy to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving domain. The DOD Chief Information Officer’s Workforce Innovation Directorate provided an overview of the Pentagon’s cyber workforce framework and vision for recruiting and retaining top talent to meet future demands. The exchange was part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which aims to build lasting relationships between emerging foreign leaders and their American counterparts.
During the discussion, the critical importance of securing global networks in both the public and private sectors was emphasized, as well as the need to account for both kinetic and nonkinetic effects in the modern battlefield. The Pentagon published its strategy in 2023 to identify, recruit, develop, and retain a data-literate and technology-adept cyber workforce to maintain the U.S.’s warfighting edge. The department has implemented the Cyber Excepted Service to enhance recruitment and retention authorities and has laid out a framework for shaping the cyber workforce through personnel qualification, academic outreach, and professional development.
The participants also discussed common bureaucratic hurdles in both the U.S. and Indonesia that challenge public sector recruiters, such as lengthy hiring processes and higher salaries offered by private employers. They also talked about changing metrics used to gauge candidate qualifications for cyber jobs and the importance of leveraging practical qualifications gained through informal, hands-on training instead of solely relying on formal education. The impact of competition from Indonesia’s large population of young professionals on recruiting cyber talent was also mentioned.
The IVLP has hosted over 225,000 participants since 1940 for exchanges on various topics, including cybersecurity and combatting transnational crime. Participants like Alfian Linux, CEO of Xtend Indonesia, found the experience invaluable and hope it will open doors for Indonesian firms to work effectively alongside U.S. firms. The U.S. also benefits from these exchanges, as the global talent shortage in the cyber domain requires countries to learn from one another to overcome pressing challenges. The dialogue fostered by the IVLP allows for the exchange of ideas and collaboration on shared challenges in the cybersecurity field.
