The shortage of cybersecurity professionals is a significant risk to The United States of America’s overall national security and economic prosperity. The U.S. branches of the military provide training and education in cybersecurity, and some transitioning military are well versed in risk management and may possess highly sought-after security clearances obtained while in the service. These trained, experienced, and often, able-to-be-cleared individuals should be viewed as highly desirable members of the civilian cybersecurity workforce. Yet, for some transitioning military it is challenging to determine how to translate military experience to civilian cybersecurity work roles and to find employers who have jobs that leverage their military experience.

A workshop was held on March 21, 2017, attended by a small group of interested participants from the federal government, non-profit organizations, academia, and industry, as well as several members of the military, to share information and ideas about how the environment might be improved before, during, and after transition programs.

Recommendations from the workshop discussion included concrete suggestions both for the military and for the private sector to do more to streamline a warfighter’s experience from before entering the service all the way through to transitioning to a new civilian cybersecurity career.