This chapter explores enabling and constraining conditions for CSO engagement in the EU Security Research Programme (ESRP). Security policy and, by default, research are contentious public policy fields, not easily accessible to CSOs, despite controversies regarding the effectiveness, accountability, and compliance with fundamental rights of counter-terrorism and crisis management practices in Europe. CSOs have the potential to better ground ESRP in societal realities, making it more responsive and responsible. First, the chapter documents the goal ambiguity of the institutional background, second, it lays out dominant and alternative framings of technology and innovation, third, it examines the weak position of CSOs within the stakeholder ecology of the ESRP. The chapter identifies a series of developments which are currently conducive to opening a window of opportunity for CSOs.