John Slye, advisory research analyst at Deltek, said Wednesday that a study of data from the Office of Management and Budget revealed that the department’s personnel spending in its information technology security budget declined between fiscal years 2010 and 2013.
He said this occurred despite an increase in the agencyâs total IT security spending during the period.
Slye also highlighted DHS’ dependence on contracted versus government staff and noted that 60 percent of hires for FY 2012 were IT security personnel from industry.
Lawmakers have made moves to help DHS leadership hurdle its personnel challenges but the Deltek analyst said the agency can do more for itself.
âDHS will probably continue to struggle to build their cyber workforce for some time –Â with or without help from Congress,â he said.
âUntil then, theyâll continue to need skilled people from industry to fulfill the mission, but to reach long-term sustainability and ultimate success they will need to look to ever-advancing security tools to leverage their people to the maximum effect.â