A new bill will require the Pentagon to assess whether its current efforts to recruit, train and retain cyber talent are working — and to produce a new department-wide plan aimed at addressing persistent cyber workforce gaps.

The legislation, titled the Department of Defense Comprehensive Cyber Workforce Strategy Act of 2025, tasks the Pentagon with developing a cyber workforce strategy and delivering a detailed report to Congress by Jan. 31, 2027. 

Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), the bill’s sponsors, want the Pentagon to assess progress made and remaining gaps in implementing the DoD’s 2023–2027 Cyber Workforce Strategy, and identify which elements of the current strategy should be continued or dropped. 

The lawmakers are also requesting detailed workforce data, including the size of the cyber workforce, vacancy rates, specific work roles and other data related to personnel system metrics.

In addition, the legislation calls for a detailed analysis of the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework itself, including its goals, implementation efforts, the milestones used to track progress and the performance metrics used to determine whether the cyber workforce strategy is actually effective. The Defense Department issued the framework in 2023 to establish an “authoritative lexicon based on the work an individual is performing, not their position titles, occupational series, or designator.” The goal of the framework is to give the Pentagon a clearer picture of its cyber and IT workforce, which has been difficult since cyber-related work often falls under traditional military jobs titles that do not clearly reflect those job responsibilities.

The Pentagon would also be required to identify “any issues, problems or roadblocks” that have slowed implementation of the framework — and outline steps taken to overcome those barriers.

The legislation encourages the Defense Department to explore alternative personnel models, including cyber civilian reserve or auxiliary forces, and to leverage talent management authorities used by other federal agencies. The Pentagon would also be required to examine the use of commercial tools for tracking workforce qualification and certifications, identifying talent and skills in existing personnel management systems.

The bill further calls for partnerships with universities and academic centers of excellence to improve workforce development and talent acquisition.

The Pentagon would be required to provide Congress with a timeline and estimated costs for implementing the new cyber workforce strategy.

The bill comes amid personnel reductions across the Defense Department over the past year, including at key cyber organizations such as U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency. The Pentagon faces a shortage of approximately 25,000 cyber professionals. 

In May, the Defense Information Systems Agency, for instance, said it expected to lose nearly 10% of its civilian workforce due to the deferred resignation program and early retirements. The organization said it was experimenting with automation and artificial intelligence to offset the impact of workforce reductions.

Meanwhile, Cyber Command lost 5 to 8 percent of its personnel amid the department’s efforts to shrink its civilian workforce.

The Pentagon has lost approximately 60,000 civilian employees since President Donald Trump took office.

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