From policy to execution: The workforce challenge at the heart of CMMC

In an era of persistent cyber competition, the Department of Defense faces a dual challenge: raising cybersecurity standards across the defense industrial base (DIB) while ensuring those standards can be implemented at scale. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program addresses the first challenge. Successfully executing it will determine whether the second can be met.

CMMC is not a pilot effort or a niche compliance regime. More than 200,000 organizations—domestic and...