Over his decade of service at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Rodney Petersen has had a front row seat to the evolving state of the cyber workforce across government, industry and academia. In his role as director of education and workforce at NIST’s Applied Cybersecurity Division, Petersen led efforts to standardize cyber workforce roles and better understand skills gaps that are now a recurring theme in cyber policy discussions.

With Petersen retiring at the end of 2025, I spoke with him about the evolution of NIST's cyber workforce programs, the progress made on the pernicious cyber talent gap, and what comes next for cyber workforce and education amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

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Tim Brennan, VP of technology policy and government relations at the Professional Services Council, joins me to discuss the latest legislative proposals to help streamline the gargantuan security clearance process. One of the priorities for PSC's members, which includes many cleared contractors, is developing a bigger bench of people with security clearances. "We are fishing in such a small pond right now with folks that are cleared and then have the expertise to do that cleared work that I'm a little nervous about it," Tim told me.

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Open-source intelligence, or OSINT, has reached an inflection point in the IC. Several agencies in recent years have published strategies aimed at better harnessing OSINT. Now, they're embarking on new initiatives to improve data collection and management, train the workforce, and share best practices across the community. But a multitude of challenges remain, including skills gaps, data siloes, bureaucratic and cultural barriers, funding challenges, and more.

Recently, I brought together a panel of experts to debate and discuss the past, present and future of OSINT in the intelligence community. The guests on this episode are:

• David Gauthier, the chief strategy officer for CXO, and the visiting fellow at the National Security Institute and former director of commercial operations at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
• Ellen McCarthy, the CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative, and former assistant secretary of state for the bureau of intelligence and research
• Chip Usher, the senior director for intelligence at the Special Competitive Studies Project, and a former CIA executive
• Eliot Jardines, the founder and director of the OSINT Foundation, and former assistant deputy director of national intelligence for open source

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