Sponsors (2)
Official title: Authorize the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to establish an apprenticeship program and to establish a pilot program on cybersecurity training for veterans and members of the Armed Forces transitioning to civilian life, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Margaret Wood Hassan · Last progress July 22, 2026
The bill expands federal cybersecurity hiring and creates credentialed apprenticeship and training pathways—improving government cyber capacity and access for students, veterans, and underrepresented groups—while requiring new taxpayer funding, offering limited short‑term scale/duration, and introducing risks around worker protections and uneven implementation.
Federal agencies and programs will expand hiring and training for cybersecurity roles, increasing government capacity to detect and respond to cyberattacks.
Students, apprentices, and veterans gain direct pathways into federal cybersecurity jobs through registered apprenticeships and training that provide recognized postsecondary credentials.
Programs prioritize recruiting women and underrepresented minorities and enable veterans to use GI Bill benefits, likely expanding diversity and easing transitions into cybersecurity careers.
Taxpayers will face increased federal spending to create, resource, and sustain the pilots, apprenticeships, and interagency positions needed to run these programs.
Programs are limited in scale and duration (small enrollment caps and five‑year sunsets), reducing immediate job creation and risking discontinuities for participants if not renewed.
Federal recruitment efforts may intensify competition with the private sector for scarce cybersecurity talent, raising hiring costs and making it harder for small businesses to recruit.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a pilot for no‑cost cybersecurity training, apprenticeships, and credentialing for veterans and eligible military-connected individuals, aligned to the NIST NICE framework.
Creates a federal pilot program to expand the cybersecurity workforce by funding no-cost cybersecurity education, apprenticeships, and work-based learning targeted to veterans, transitioning service members, and other eligible participants. The program requires alignment with the NIST NICE workforce framework, coordination across DHS, VA, DOL, DoD, NIST, and OPM, and uses existing definitions for eligible education and training providers. Also updates a provision of the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act of 2015 to change introductory language in that law and establishes definitions and eligible provider categories for the apprenticeship pilot and training efforts.