What is DoD 8140?

DoD 8140 is the U.S. Department of Defense's policy series for managing and qualifying its cyberspace workforce. It is made up of DoD Directive 8140.01 (Cyberspace Workforce Management), DoD Instruction 8140.02 (identifying, tracking, and reporting cyberspace workforce requirements), and DoD Manual 8140.03 (the Cyberspace Workforce Qualification and Management Program). The program is managed by the DoD Chief Information Officer (DoD CIO).

DoD 8140 replaced the older DoD 8570 program. Instead of grouping people into broad categories like IAT and IAM, 8140 ties qualification requirements to the specific work roles people actually perform, as defined by the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF).

DoD 8140 and the DCWF are broken into the following components:

DoD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF)

The DCWF is the DoD's authoritative list of cyberspace work roles. It builds on the NIST NICE Framework and adds roles unique to DoD missions, such as offensive cyber operations and AI. Each work role includes a definition and a list of core and additional tasks, knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). The current version is DCWF v5.1.

The DCWF groups its more than 70 work roles into seven workforce elements:

• Information Technology (IT) - Personnel who design, build, configure, operate, and maintain IT, networks, and capabilities, including the management, storage, transmission, and display of data and information.
• Cybersecurity (CS) - Personnel who secure, defend, and preserve data, networks, net-centric capabilities, and other designated systems by making sure the right security controls are in place and taking internal defense actions.
• Cyber Effects (CE) - Personnel who plan, support, and execute cyberspace capabilities where the primary purpose is to externally defend or conduct force projection in or through cyberspace.
• Intel (Cyber) (IN) - Personnel who collect, process, analyze, and disseminate intelligence on foreign actors' cyberspace programs, intentions, capabilities, and operational activities.
• Cyber Enablers (EN) - Personnel who support or facilitate the other workforce elements, including acquisition, training, legal, and leadership roles.
• Data/AI (DA) - Personnel who drive and support data, analytic, and AI-enabled capabilities that turn information into decision advantage.
• Software Engineering (SE) - Personnel who design, develop, test, deploy, and integrate software applications, including cloud computing strategy and adoption.

DCWF Work Roles

Each work role has a three-digit code, for example DCWF 511 for Cyber Defense Analyst or DCWF 531 for Cyber Defense Incident Responder. Many of these codes match the OPM codes used with the NICE Framework, so the same number points to the same type of job across both frameworks.

Roles that exist only in the DCWF, such as DCWF 551 (Red Team Specialist), DCWF 463 (Host Analyst), and DCWF 443 (Network Analyst), are also used on this site where they fit.

Qualification and Proficiency Levels

Under DoD 8140, a person in a cyber work role must meet that role's qualification requirements, which come in two parts:

• Foundational Qualification - Shows baseline knowledge for the work role through an approved education, training, or professional certification option.
• Residential Qualification - Shows the person can do the job in their specific environment, such as on-the-job qualification and organization-specific requirements.

Requirements also depend on the position's proficiency level: Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced.

How These Tags Are Used

Content on this site carries a general "DoD 8140" tag plus a "DCWF ###" tag for each related work role. These tags show which DCWF work roles a lab or CTF lines up with. Completing them is great practice for those roles, but it does not count as a DoD 8140 qualification on its own.