With a Little Help from Our Civilian Friends: Cybersecurity Reserve Is Both Feasible and Advisable
From Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Podcast Series by Members of Technical Staff at the Software Engineering Institute
March 20, 2026 · 49 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the feasibility and advisability of creating a civilian cybersecurity reserve to address staffing shortages in government cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity staffing shortages are a major concern in the government given the increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks on the nation's critical infrastructure. In the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress tasked the Pentagon with finding flexible options to address cyber staffing needs. The Pentagon commissioned the SEI to conduct an independent study to assess the feasibility and advisability of creating a civilian cybersecurity reserve (CCR) that could harness cyber expertise from the private sector to mobilize a mission-ready workforce capable of operating in contested environments. In our latest podcast from the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI), the lead authors on the report, Marie Baker, a technical manager in the SEI's CERT Division, and Chris May, technical director of the CERT Cyber Mission Readiness directorate, sit down with Mike Winter, deputy technical director of threat analysis, to discuss their findings.
People in this episode
Host: Mike Winter
Guests: Marie Baker, Chris May
Topics covered
- cybersecurity
- staffing shortages
- civilian cybersecurity reserve
- national defense
- private sector expertise
- critical infrastructure
Keywords
- cybersecurity
- civilian cybersecurity reserve
- staffing shortages
- Pentagon
- critical infrastructure
- private sector
- NDAA
- SEI
- CERT
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Software Engineering Institute, Pentagon, CERT Division, CERT Cyber Mission Readiness, Carnegie Mellon University, Congress
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