NOTICE: Applications for the 2026 OT Defender Fellowships will open in early August 2025.
Protecting the nation’s energy infrastructure from modern threats is vital to maintaining national security, a vibrant economy, and public health and safety.
Security managers serve as a utility’s first line of defense against cyber-enabled sabotage and physical security breaches, ranging from financially motivated material theft to reconnaissance to deliberate attacks in cyberspace and in the physical world. While their role is critical, their work is challenging, and resources are limited.
To better support these front-line managers, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) created the Operational Technology (OT) Defender Fellowship Program. This highly-selective education program offers middle- and senior-level OT security managers in the U.S. energy sector an opportunity to more fully understand the cyber strategies and tactics that adversarial state and nonstate actors use in targeting U.S. energy infrastructure, and how the U.S. government is postured to counter these adversarial activities.
The fellowship is sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and hosted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with support from Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI).
The OT Defender Fellowship offers one cohort per year with a small number of highly qualified participants per cohort.
For additional information, see DOE's 2025 OTDF Cohort Application Announcement.
The 12-month fellowship consists of quarterly week-long seminars (in-person and remote). Classroom information and tabletop exercises include:
The 12-month fellowship consists of quarterly week-long seminars, plus strategic online presentations in between the quarterly sessions. Classroom information and tabletop exercises include:
Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) addresses the emerging threats of tomorrow while protecting the reliable flow of energy to Americans today by improving energy infrastructure security and supporting the Department of Energy’s national security mission. CESER’s focus is preparedness and response activities to natural and man-made threats, while ensuring a stronger, more prosperous, and secure future for the nation.
Idaho National Laboratory is a world leader in providing industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity workforce training and development. The laboratory’s distinctive history in protecting critical infrastructure systems puts the lab at the forefront of thought leadership and applied innovation in critical infrastructure cybersecurity education. INL uses a comprehensive approach to developing ICS cybersecurity training programs that can be tailored to meet the energy sector’s needs identified by the DOE, utilities, and other organizations.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)3 policy institute focusing on foreign policy and national security. CCTI’s work drives society-wide improvement in cyber resilience through the innovative synthesis of technology, policy, and governance.
Incorporating context for better threat detection
Testing cyber resilience of energy technologies
Elite training for energy sector front-line managers
Partnering with energy sector entities to identify and defend critical control systems
Exploring a proof of concept for the energy community
