How DOD spends its IT security money

May 02, 2013

Source: Fiscal Year 2012 Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002.

With nearly 55,000 government full-time equivalent IT security positions and more than 25,000 contractor FTEs in fiscal 2012, the Defense Department was far and away the largest spender on IT security in government last year, and personnel accounted for the bulk of that spending, $11.6 billion out of a $12 billion total.

When it comes to per-person costs, however, a number of agencies topped DOD, which had average costs per full-time equivalent position of $141,732 for government employees and $150,000 for contractors. The best-paid security personnel appear to be at the National Science Foundation, which paid out an average of $298,877 per government IT security employee and $286,738 per contractor in fiscal 2012. But NSF reported only seven full-time equivalent government positions for IT security and 30 contractor positions, so a significant portion of those costs probably reflect fixed personnel and contract management expenses.

-- William Jackson