It doesn't hurt to have hands-on experience, but it definitely isn't necessary. The job of a department head is to navigate government bureaucracy and attain t

It doesn't hurt to have hands-on experience, but it definitely isn't necessary. The job of a department head is to navigate government bureaucracy and attain the budget, gather resources and hire experts for his department's needs. The value of a minister of anything is his contacts/professional network, knowledge of government bureaucracy and his ability to marshal them for his department's needs. It's why in the US, we've had Secretary of Defense who have never fired a gun or been in the military. Obviously most have had military experience, but it isn't a requirement. People are mistakenly thinking that a minister of cybersecurity is a cybersecurity job. It isn't. It is a government bureaucratic job. Given a choice between a cybersecurity expert ( with no bureaucratic experience ) and a bureaucratic expert ( with no computer experience ), it's a no brainer to go with the latter as minister of cybersecurity. Ideally, you want bureaucratic expert who is also a cybersecurity expert. But you only have 24 hours in a day.