Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the distinguished ranking member from the District of Columbia, Ms. Holmes Norton, for yielding me this time, and I want to thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz) for his leadership on these very important matters of homeland security.

I rise today in support of S. 1691, and I am pleased that today we are considering legislation containing language I introduced earlier this year to address fundamental cyber workforce challenges at the Department of Homeland Security. Important parts of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 3107, the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act, are included in the measure we are considering today.

The cyber workforce language included in S. 1691 generally does two important things. First, it grants special hiring authority to DHS to bring on board topnotch cyber recruits. The Department desperately needs a more flexible hiring process with incentives to secure talent in today's highly competitive cyber skills market. Second, it requires the Secretary of the Department to assess its cyber workforce to give Congress and the Office of Personnel Management a clearer picture of the needs and challenges that DHS faces in carrying out its important cyber mission in helping protect both the dot-gov and dot-com arenas.

Importantly, the bill also directs the Comptroller General to analyze, monitor, and report on the implementation of DHS cybersecurity workforce measures.

Today, many of the Department's top cyber positions are filled by nonpermanent contractors, and DHS reports having difficulty competing with other executive branch agencies and the private sector for talent. In an effort to address DHS's cyber workforce challenges, the Department asked the Homeland Security Advisory Committee to assemble a task force on cyber skills to provide recommendations on the best ways DHS can foster the development of a national cybersecurity workforce and DHS can improve its capability to recruit and retain cybersecurity talent.

The legislation I introduced sought to address a number of the task force's key recommendations, as does this bill, S. 1691. Cybersecurity is a complex mission for the Department and requires a wide range of talent at all levels. Given the urgent nature of the DHS' recruitment efforts, it is essential the Department have at its disposal certain hiring authorities and training procedures in place.

Before I close, I would like to acknowledge that there is a lot of interest on our side of the aisle to make progress on cybersecurity. Hopefully, in the coming days, old jurisdictional squabbles can be laid aside for the betterment of the country, as was done on this bill, and again, the Oversight Committee can work with the Homeland Security Committee to bring forth critical cybersecurity legislation. We need to put in place legislation to advance the ball with respect to protecting Federal civilian networks and codifying DHS' role.

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