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Cyber personnel expressed mixed views on whether recruiting is a concern

• Questionnaire respondents' overall level of satisfaction with the quality of cyber talent being recruited was neutral.
• The most frequently mentioned recruiting concern was USAF's inability to identify the right personnel.
• Another issue was the protracted onboarding process, which can include a long training period, a 180-day wait period after retirement for former airmen who want to return to the field as civilians, and an extensive security clearance process.
• Other recruiting issues included lack of intrinsic motivation among applicants and lack of knowledge among recruiters of what jobs in the cyber field entail.

Participants in 77 percent of focus groups said that retention is a concern

• Participants expressed concern that the best-quality people are the ones leaving.
• The most commonly mentioned retention topic pertained to the allure of private-sector cyber jobs that pay well and are less bureaucratic than military jobs.
• Many participants also said that personnel leave the cyber career field because they are unhappy about being "pulled off keyboard"—i.e., being promoted from the technical work they enjoy doing to perform a supervisory role.
• Participants explained that some personnel wanted to leave the military because they felt that their training and skill sets were not being appropriately utilized.
• While personnel data suggest that cyber retention overall is not a problem, the authors' review of the Armed Forces Qualification Test scores lends support to participants' concerns that top performers might be leaving at higher rates.

The U.S. military's success in cyberwarfare depends on the capabilities of the cyber personnel who are brought to the fight. Because cyberwarfare is considered a core element of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) mission, USAF has been looking for ways to revamp training of its offensive and defensive cyber operators to develop the best cyberwarfare workforce possible. USAF has also sought to better understand some of the drivers of attraction to and retention in the cyber field.

To this end, researchers at the RAND Corporation conducted 30 discussions to collect the viewpoints of enlisted and civilian cyber personnel on training, recruiting, and retaining issues and solutions in their career fields. The researchers also spoke with subject-matter experts at several bases. The authors summarize participants' insights on recruitment and retention in this second volume of this report. Volume I presents findings related to training.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Workforce Views on Recruiting

• Chapter Three

  Workforce Views on Retention and Data on Past Retention

• Chapter Four

  Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Focus Group Results, by Specialty

• Appendix B

  Questionnaire Methodology