OPERATION VETSURGE
CIVILIAN OR MILITARY - Experience Doesn't Retire.
Put Yours Back On Mission.
A national initiative of the Civilian Reserve and Rampart Defense Alliance (RDA) mobilizing experienced military and civilian cyber defenders to protect the critical infrastructure and essential services America depends on.
States: Define the mission.
Defenders: Answer the call.
Partners: Help build the capacity.
Why Now
The threat is accelerating. Capacity has not kept pace.
State and local governments, rural communities, and critical-infrastructure operators are confronting increasingly sophisticated cyber threats while many lack the personnel required to sustain advanced defensive capability. At the same time, the nation already possesses an extraordinary pool of experienced cyber talent.
Operation VetSurge connects the two.
What VetSurge Does
Recruit. Qualify. Align. Exercise. Surge.
Experienced military and civilian cyber defenders.
Them against mission-specific requirements.
Them with states, communities, and critical-infrastructure missions before crisis.
Teams with the organizations they may support.
Additional cyber capacity when states and communities BEFORE it's needed.
Audience
Who We Serve
Veteran of service. Veteran of mission.
States
Governors, Homeland Security Advisors, CIOs, CISOs, Adjutants General, emergency-management leaders.
Communities
Rural and under-resourced jurisdictions that cannot independently sustain specialized cyber capability and additional interested entities.
Critical Infrastructure
Water, energy, communications, transportation, emergency services, and other state-defined lifeline sectors.
Defenders
Military veterans, former federal operators, public-sector professionals, utility defenders, OT specialists, and experienced private-sector cyber professionals.
State PartnerS
You define the mission. We help build the capacity.
Operation VetSurge works with states to identify priority cyber-capacity gaps and develop mission-ready teams around state-defined requirements. The model is designed to complement — not replace — existing state cyber organizations, emergency-management structures, federal programs, and private-sector capabilities. You define the mission.
Bring Operation VetSurge to Your State
For Defenders
You spent years building experience America still needs.
Whether you served in uniform, government, critical infrastructure, public safety, or the private sector, your expertise can continue protecting communities and essential services.
Experience doesn't retire. Put yours back on mission.
10,000 experienced defenders. 50 states. One mission.
Fund the Mission. Build the Capacity.
Operation VetSurge is being built as a public-interest national capability. Civilian Reserve and Rampart Defense Alliance invite corporations, philanthropies, technology providers, universities, training organizations, foundations, associations, and mission-aligned institutions to help build the workforce and readiness infrastructure required to protect America's essential services.
Founding Mission Partners can support:
recruitment and qualification, training and cyber ranges, state pilot programs, exercises, rural and critical-infrastructure assessments, technology access, readiness management, and surge-response capability.
Fund capability, not visibility.
About the Coalition
Two national nonprofits. One mission. A growing coalition.
The Civilian Reserve Information Sharing and Analysis Center and Rampart Defense Alliance have joined forces to launch Operation VetSurge and build scalable cyber capacity for states and communities. The initiative is designed from the outset to welcome additional nonprofit, government, industry, academic, technology, and philanthropic partners.
About Civilian Reserve
Civilian Reserve builds the human, organizational, and partnership infrastructure required to strengthen cyber resilience where capacity is limited.
Organizing experienced cyber talent.
Training, exercises, assessments, and pre-incident relationships.
Connecting states, communities, industry, nonprofits, and technology providers.