Lawfare Daily: State Cyber Corps and Volunteer Programs
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
Sarah Powazek, Director of the Public Interest Cybersecurity Program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, and Michael Razeeq, Nonresident Fellow at the Public Interest Cybersecurity Program, join Lawfare’s Justin Sherman to discuss the cyber threats facing states, what options and resources states currently have to address cybersecurity problems, and how the concept of state cyber corps and volunteer programs fits into the picture. They also discuss how states can stand up a cyber corp or volunteer program, including recruiting and retaining talent; the impact of federal workforce and spending cuts on states’ cybersecurity capacities; and what future state and federal action on cybersecurity could do to improve states’ cyber postures.
For more on this topic, see:
- Sarah Powazek and Grace Menna, “The Roadmap to Community Cyber Defense,” June 2025, UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
- Cyber Resilience Corps website
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | States of known cybercores are very well positioned to handle a lot of different types of incidents. |
| 0:08.0 | But I think when it comes to OT, it can be more challenging because you may be dealing with industrial control systems, programmable logic controllers, |
| 0:17.0 | different types of technology that require more specialized security knowledge. |
| 0:23.0 | It's the Lawfare podcast. I'm Justin Sherman, contributing editor at Lawfare and CEO of Global Cyber Strategies, |
| 0:31.5 | with Sarah Poizek, director of the public interest cybersecurity program at Berkeley's Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, |
| 0:39.2 | and Michael Rozeek, who is a non-resident fellow at that same program. |
| 0:43.5 | Every organization can benefit from free cybersecurity assistance. |
| 0:47.3 | So what it really boils down to and what the bottleneck for this is, |
| 0:51.7 | what does the state care about and how many volunteers do they have? |
| 0:55.9 | Today, we're talking about cyber threats to states, the current environment, and how state |
| 1:01.2 | cybercore and volunteer programs can be an effective response. |
| 1:05.8 | Why don't you start? |
| 1:06.6 | I always start this way. |
| 1:07.8 | Why don't you start by telling us about yourselves, both your backgrounds for those |
| 1:11.9 | a little less familiar, as well as what you are each working on currently? |
| 1:16.6 | Sure. |
| 1:17.1 | I'll kick us off. |
| 1:18.0 | So I'm Sarah Polazik. |
| 1:19.2 | I'm the program director of public interest cybersecurity at UC Berkeley Center for |
| 1:23.4 | Long-Term Cybersecurity. |
| 1:25.1 | And our program right now is focused on trying to create a safety net for a small, |
| 1:30.1 | under-resourced organizations across the U.S. that tend to fall through the cracks when we |
... |
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