From Silos to Synergy: A System-of-Systems Approach to Advancing the National Security Cyber Workforce

The accelerating pace of cyber threats and digital warfare has placed unprecedented demands on the United States' national security infrastructure. At the heart of this challenge lies a growing need for a mission-ready, clearance-eligible cyber workforce capable of protecting and advancing defense capabilities across increasingly complex and interconnected environments. Although numerous workforce development initiatives exist across both the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), these efforts remain largely fragmented. The landscape is best characterized as a thousand points of light – each meritorious but failing to deliver synergistic impacts.

We propose a system-of-systems approach to cyber workforce development specifically for the national security domain. Building on established STEM ecosystem models, we present a conceptual framework anchored in sustained DoD-DIB collaboration. This framework emphasizes operational independence at the local level while enabling strategic alignment, shared resource utilization, and collective impact evaluation at the national level. By embedding cybersecurity into the broader talent development ecosystem—spanning K–12 education, community colleges, technical certifications, military training pipelines, and advanced degree programs—this framework ensures that cyber careers are not only accessible but also aligned with defense-specific workforce needs.

Through sustained public-private collaboration, the system-of-systems construct provides a pathway to attract, recruit, and retain a cyber-ready workforce capable of defending the nation in a contested and technologically advanced global environment.