January 13, 2026
Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Rounds) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
To require the Secretary of Defense to develop a cyber workforce strategy for the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Department of Defense Comprehensive Cyber Workforce Strategy Act of 2026
.
Sec. 2. Department of Defense cyber workforce strategy
(a) Strategy and report required
Not later than January 31, 2027, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy and in consultation with the Chief Information Officers and Principal Cyber Advisors of the military departments—
(1)
develop a comprehensive cyber workforce strategy; and
(2)
submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on the strategy developed under paragraph (1).
(b) Contents
The report required by subsection (a)(2) shall include the following:
(1)
An assessment of progress achieved and remaining gaps in implementation of the 2023–2027 Department of Defense Cyber Workforce Strategy, including identification of elements that should be continued, modified, or discontinued in the strategy developed under subsection (a)(1).
(2)
A descriptive analysis of the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework (in this section referred to as the Framework
), including the goals, activities, milestones, and key performance indicators used by the Department of Defense to measure progress and assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the strategy required by subsection (a)(1).
(3)
Assessment of the scope of the affected workforce for the Framework, including specific workforce numbers, vacancy numbers, work roles, or other statistical data relating to personnel system metrics.
(4)
Identification of progress of the Department in implementing the Framework based on the goals, activities, milestones, and key performance indicators described in paragraph (2).
(5)
Identification of any issues, problems, or roadblocks identified by the Department in implementing the Framework, as well as any adjustments required to measurements of progress or inclusions of new goals, activities, milestones, key performance indicators, or work roles since publication of such framework, and any steps taken by the Department to overcome issues or lack of authority to address roadblocks.
(6)
Opportunities to leverage support from non-Department entities, or of any workforce or talent management authorities that exist within other Federal agencies in which inclusion in the Framework might benefit the Department.
(7)
The availability of commercial tools that support Framework talent management processes and might enhance performance or effectiveness, including for workforce qualification and certification tracking, talent identification and tracking, tagging for additional skill identifiers in existing personnel management systems, or enhancing skill development for specific work roles.
(8)
Opportunities to leverage supplementary personnel models that might be adapted from other domains, such as cyber civilian reserves or cyber auxiliary forces.
(9)
Integration of existing academic centers of excellence or other university partnerships to help improve workforce development, talent acquisition, and skills development.
(10)
A review of Framework work roles for artificial intelligence, data science, and data engineering to assess alignment with corresponding work roles in industry and recommendations for modifications to enable more effective recruiting of industry talent.
(11)
Resource requirements and implementation timeline for the strategy developed under subsection (a)(1), including budget estimates and key milestones.
(c) External views
In developing the strategy required under subsection (a)(1), the Secretary may solicit or coordinate views from external organizations with relevant expertise in human resources planning or human capital strategy, higher education or training, or cyber professional industry associations.
(d) Form
The report submitted pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.