diff --git a/.github/scripts/ci-check.sh b/.github/scripts/ci-check.sh
index b507c327f..0ab83a318 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/ci-check.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/ci-check.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ normal=$(tput sgr0)
 
 # assert we are running in CI (or die!)
 if [[ -z "$CI" ]]; then
-    echo "${bold}${red}This script should ONLY be run in CI. Exiting...${normal}"
+    echo "${bold}${red}This step should ONLY be run in CI. Exiting...${normal}"
     exit 1
 fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 232ce461a..0f8dbe90d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ jobs:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Build & publish release artifacts
-        run: make release
+        run: make ci-release
         env:
           # for mac signing and notarization...
           QUILL_SIGN_P12: ${{ secrets.ANCHORE_APPLE_DEVELOPER_ID_CERT_CHAIN }}
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e830509ae..46423b2bb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -315,14 +315,13 @@ changelog: clean-changelog  ## Generate and show the changelog for the current u
 $(CHANGELOG):
 	$(CHRONICLE_CMD) -vvv > $(CHANGELOG)
 
-.PHONY: trigger-release
-trigger-release:
+.PHONY: release
+release:
 	@.github/scripts/trigger-release.sh
 
-.PHONY: release
-release: clean-dist $(CHANGELOG)
+.PHONY: ci-release
+ci-release: ci-check clean-dist $(CHANGELOG)
 	$(call title,Publishing release artifacts)
-	@.github/scripts/ci-check.sh
 
 	# create a config with the dist dir overridden
 	echo "dist: $(DIST_DIR)" > $(TEMP_DIR)/goreleaser.yaml
@@ -337,6 +336,10 @@ release: clean-dist $(CHANGELOG)
 	# upload the version file that supports the application version update check (excluding pre-releases)
 	.github/scripts/update-version-file.sh "$(DIST_DIR)" "$(VERSION)"
 
+.PHONY: ci-check
+ci-check:
+	@.github/scripts/ci-check.sh
+
 ## Cleanup targets #################################
 
 .PHONY: clean
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index 440b66ea9..3e9ba7ab0 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -1,4 +1,39 @@
-# Release Process
+# Release
+
+## Creating a release
+
+This release process itself should be as automated as possible, and has only a few steps:
+
+1. **Trigger a new release with `make release`**. At this point you'll see a preview
+  changelog in the terminal. If you're happy with the changelog, press `y` to continue, otherwise
+  you can abort and adjust the labels on the PRs and issues to be included in the release and
+  re-run the release trigger command.
+
+1. A release admin must approve the release on the GitHub Actions release pipeline run page.
+   Once approved, the release pipeline will generate all assets and publish a GitHub Release.
+
+1. If there is a release Milestone, close it.
+
+Ideally releasing should be done often with small increments when possible. Unless a
+breaking change is blocking the release, or no fixes/features have been merged, a good
+target release cadence is between every 1 or 2 weeks.
+
+
+## Retracting a release
+
+If a release is found to be problematic, it can be retracted with the following steps:
+
+- Deleting the GitHub Release
+- Untag the docker images in the `ghcr.io` and `docker.io` registries
+- Revert the brew formula in [`anchore/homebrew-syft`](https://github.com/anchore/homebrew-syft) to point to the previous release
+- Add a new `retract` entry in the go.mod for the versioned release
+
+**Note**: do not delete release tags from the git repository since there may already be references to the release
+in the go proxy, which will cause confusion when trying to reuse the tag later (the H1 hash will not match and there
+will be a warning when users try to pull the new release).
+
+
+## Background
 
 A good release process has the following qualities:
 
@@ -7,7 +42,8 @@ A good release process has the following qualities:
 1. Allow for different kinds of releases (major breaking vs backwards compatible enhancements vs patch updates)
 1. Specify a repeatable way to build and publish software artifacts
 
-## Planning a release
+
+### Planning a release
 
 To indicate a set of features to be released together add each issue to an in-repository
 Milestone named with major-minor version to be released (e.g. `v0.1`). It is OK for other
@@ -25,7 +61,8 @@ release (where some partial or breaking features have already been merged).
 Unless necessary, feature releases should be small and frequent, which may obviate the
 need for regular release planning under a Milestone.
 
-## What is in a release
+
+### What is in a release
 
 Milestones are specifically for planning a release, not necessarily tracking all changes
 that a release may bring (and more importantly, not all releases are necessarily planned
@@ -59,7 +96,8 @@ The above suggestions imply that we should:
 **With this approach as we cultivate good organization of PRs and issues we automatically
 get an equally good Changelog.**
 
-## Major, minor, and patch releases
+
+### Major, minor, and patch releases
 
 The latest version of the tool is the only supported version, which implies that multiple
 parallel release branches will not be a regular process (if ever). Multiple releases can
@@ -72,33 +110,3 @@ tracking).
 Semantic versioning should be used to indicate breaking changes, new features, and fixes.
 The exception to this is `< 1.0`, where the major version is not bumped for breaking changes,
 instead the minor version indicates both new features and breaking changes.
-
-## Cutting a release
-
-Ideally releasing should be done often with small increments when possible. Unless a
-breaking change is blocking the release, or no fixes/features have been merged, a good
-target release cadence is between every 1 or 2 weeks.
-
-This release process itself should be as automated as possible, and has only a few steps:
-
-1. **Trigger a new release with `make trigger-release`**. At this point you'll see a preview
-  changelog in the terminal. If you're happy with the changelog, press `y` to continue, otherwise
-  you can abort and adjust the labels on the PRs and issues to be included in the release and
-  re-run the release trigger command.
-
-1. A release admin must approve the release on the GitHub Actions release pipeline run page.
-   Once approved, the release pipeline will generate all assets and publish a GitHub Release.
-
-1. If there is a release Milestone, close it.
-
-## Retracting a release
-
-If a release is found to be problematic, it can be retracted with the following steps:
-
-- Deleting the GitHub Release
-- Untag the docker images in the `ghcr.io` and `docker.io` registries
-- Revert the brew formula in [`anchore/homebrew-syft`](https://github.com/anchore/homebrew-syft) to point to the previous release
-
-**Note**: do not delete release tags from the git repository since there may already be references to the release
-in the go proxy, which will cause confusion when trying to reuse the tag later (the H1 hash will not match and there
-will be a warning when users try to pull the new release).