To establish a Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve in the Department of Homeland Security as a pilot project to address the cybersecurity needs of the United States with respect to national security, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates a 4-year pilot program for a Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Similar to military reserves, this program would maintain a roster of up to 30 qualified cybersecurity professionals who can be quickly activated during significant cyber incidents to provide emergency response capacity.
Who Benefits and How
Former federal employees, military veterans, and former federal contractors with cybersecurity expertise benefit from new temporary employment opportunities with federal benefits and job protections during activation. CISA benefits from surge capacity to respond to major cyber attacks without maintaining a larger permanent workforce. The private sector cybersecurity workforce gains a pathway to contribute to national security while maintaining their primary employment.
Who Bears the Burden and How
CISA must fund the program from existing appropriations, including security clearance costs and compensation for activated reservists. The Department of Labor must establish new regulations for reemployment protections. Reserve members face restrictions - they cannot be current federal employees or military Selected Reserve members, and must undergo vetting and comply with conflict of interest requirements.
Key Provisions
- Allows CISA Director to activate up to 30 reserve members as temporary federal employees during significant cybersecurity incidents
- Establishes eligibility criteria prioritizing former federal and military personnel with cybersecurity expertise
- Requires conflict of interest screening and security clearance processes
- Mandates annual congressional briefings and a GAO study after 3 years
- Program automatically terminates after 4 years unless extended
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a pilot program to create a Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve at CISA that can be activated during significant cybersecurity incidents to provide surge capacity
Key Policy Areas
Cybersecurity, Homeland Security, Federal Personnel
Primary Purpose
Establishes a pilot program to create a Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve at CISA that can be activated during significant cybersecurity incidents to provide surge capacity
Policy Domains
Section 2 - Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve Pilot Project
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- CISA/DHS
- Former federal cybersecurity workers
- Military veterans with cyber expertise
- Former federal contractors
- State/local government cyber workers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- CISA budget
- Department of Labor
- Office of Government Ethics
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedReported by Mr. Peters, with an amendment
Ms. Rosen (for herself and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Labor, Government Accountability Office
Former federal contractors with cyber expertise, Former federal cybersecurity employees, Military veterans with cybersecurity expertise
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_agency"
- → Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- "the_director"
- → Director of CISA
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor (for reemployment regulations)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Has the meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 5, United States Code
The Director of CISA
Has the meaning given the term in section 2103 of title 5, United States Code
An incident or group of related incidents that results, or is likely to result, in demonstrable harm to national security interests, foreign relations, economy, public confidence, civil liberties, or public health and safety of the United States
A position in the competitive or excepted service for a period of 6 months or less
Has the meaning given the term in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology