# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PM-13 — Security And Privacy Workforce

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-13-security-and-privacy-workforce
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5) › PM — Program Management
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `PM-13`·high·Component: **Program Management**

## What this control requires

> Establish a workforce development and improvement program focused on security and privacy. The program should define the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for security and privacy duties, develop role-based training, and provide standards for measuring and building qualifications for security- and privacy-related roles. This program encourages career growth and the advancement of professionals in the security and privacy fields. This control supports the Governance capability within the Program Management family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control PM-13

### In plain English

Establish a workforce development and improvement program focused on security and privacy. In practice, this means you can prove you policy management-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

SP 800-53 is the catalogue every U.S. federal authorisation (FedRAMP, FISMA, CMMC) and most regulated industries point at. A missing control surfaces as a Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) item that an Authorizing Official must approve before the Authority To Operate is granted or renewed.

This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

## What an auditor looks for

A 3PAO (FedRAMP) or Independent Assessor (NIST RMF) tests against NIST SP 800-53A assessment procedures. For each control they expect a documented implementation that addresses every assessment objective (Examine, Interview, Test) and an implementation summary in the System Security Plan.

Within **Program Management**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control PM-13) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

#### Secure Development

**Pipeline.** Require code review, SAST (Semgrep / Snyk Code), SCA (Dependabot / Renovate), secret-scanning and IaC scanning in the merge pipeline.

**Branch protection.** Protected branches enforce reviews, signed commits and passing CI before merge; document the protection rules as the control evidence.

### Operational checklist

-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Privacy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Risk.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** management, privacy, capability, improvement, policy, privacy workforce, roles, security.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Security And Privacy Workforce.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.
-   CI security checks set to warn-only; the merge button is faster than the security feedback.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.2** — Recategorized as NCO](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-13-2-recategorized-as-nco)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.29** — Security testing in development and acceptance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-8-29-security-testing-in-development-and-acceptance)
-   [**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(3)(ii)(B)** — Workforce security - Workforce Clearance Procedure](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-3-ii-b-workforce-security-workforce-clearance-procedure)
-   [**BSI C5:2020 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.4** — Information security roles & responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-4-information-security-roles-responsibilities)

## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

-   [**Control SA-15(6)** — Continuous Improvement](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-15-6-continuous-improvement)
-   [**Control SA-15** — Development Process, Standards, And Tools](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-15-development-process-standards-and-tools)
-   [**Control SA-15(2)** — Security And Privacy Tracking Tools](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-15-2-security-and-privacy-tracking-tools)
-   [**Control PM-29** — Risk Management Program Leadership Roles](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-29-risk-management-program-leadership-roles)
-   [**Control SA-16** — Developer-Provided Training](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-16-developer-provided-training)
-   [**Control PL-2** — System Security And Privacy Plans](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pl-2-system-security-and-privacy-plans)

## References

-   [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5](https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/risk-management/sp800-53-controls)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Control PM-13`

Topics: governance riskawareness trainingpolicy managementprivacy managementsecure developmentsecurity training

## Related compliance guidance

- [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): Start with the full NIST SP 800-53 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): If your obligation is protecting CUI in your own systems for a federal or defence contract, this derived subset — not the full catalogue — is the requirement.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most commercial SaaS already hold a SOC 2 Type 2, and FedRAMP 20x Class A is designed for providers that have one.
