DOD cyber workforce policy leader sees ‘golden opportunity’ to modernize

The Pentagon’s Chief Information Office is strategically transforming enterprisewide hiring approaches for cybersecurity recruits, staff metrics and technology-enabled HR systems, according to a senior official involved in that work. 

Mark Gorak, the organization’s principal director for resources and analysis, shared new details about those unfolding modernization plans Thursday and discussed areas where new Trump administration-led changes and disruption could help enable or accelerate ongoing efforts.

“I look at this [period of transition] as a challenge and an opportunity, and how we can do things differently. So to leverage technology, the very first thing I think about is not the way we do it today, but if I had to do this today — this function, if I had to redesign it today — what would that look like?” Gorak said at FedScoop’s Federal Forum.

Before becoming a longtime senior advisor in multiple hubs at the Defense Department, Gorak served in the U.S. Army for more than three decades. In his current role, he’s intent on applying real-world data and analytics to inform decision-making across all aspects of the DOD’s cyber enterprise.

“You have to start with the data. So, I run the cyber workforce for the Department of Defense — about 225,000 people. So the first thing I asked is, well, how many people do we need? How many people do we have? What level of qualification are they and what are the requirements for each of those positions?” Gorak said.

Over the last two years, his team has been working to answer those questions and ultimately define the specific knowledge, skillsets, abilities and task proficiencies that future employees would need for each of the department’s 73 different cybersecurity roles.

“We’re moving away from education, certification, experience, pedigree — and we need to get to skills-based hiring. One of my number one goals for this year is to get to skills-based hiring. I’m working with other federal agencies to allow us to do that. Again, I think this is a great opportunity with this administration coming in and the momentum to make these kinds of things happen,” Gorak said.

Officials in the CIO’s office have also recently begun to identify the proficiency levels that each individual and organization needs to accomplish their broader missions at the department.

“We just started that this year. It was due last month for cybersecurity. By February of next year, we’ll have our entire workforce proficiency levels coded. So, that’s where the data comes from. And that’s a foundation of how we’re doing everything,” Gorak noted.

One contemporary challenge or “frustration,” in his view, is associated with the years-long and often drawn out timelines it takes to introduce new HR policies and technology platforms within the DOD.

“To get a system approved from start to finish, the department takes two to four years. So we have to be more agile, flexible and responsive to the needs. And our needs are determined by the enemy, by our adversaries, so we have to keep up with them,” Gorak said.

Offering a price comparison, he said that for the cost of one F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, officials could “redo the entire HR systems within” the Pentagon. 

However, Gorak recognizes that that argument wouldn’t sell well to supporters of the JSF.

“So how do I communicate that this is a priority, with all the other priorities we have? And, to me, it’s that teaming aspect of what do our people deliver and how do they deliver it — and that partnership with technology,” he explained.

“This is a golden opportunity for us in that as we are reducing people, which I think we will, we have to have technology. So that’s a catalyst for us to actually start to make real change and to make it quickly,” Gorak said.