Cyber training will enable government to successfully harness AI while staying secure

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The administration’s artificial intelligence policies, reinforced with the president’s June 2 executive order “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security,” are breaking down the barriers for AI. This is a good thing for innovation and economic growth. From removing barriers to innovation to developing a national policy framework for AI, a series of recent executive orders reduce regulations, fostering a powerful free market spirit around AI, matching what has driven so many technology revolutions over the last 150 years.
However, this technological shift also creates new national security considerations that require coordinated action. Adversaries’ utilization of AI for cyber attacks has increased, as seen with APT31 using Gemini to automate cyberattack reconnaissance and analyze system vulnerabilities against United States targets. When accelerating AI innovation, there’s a great need for the U.S. to lead on AI cybersecurity across sectors, especially when it comes to the federal government, law enforcement, the intelligence community, critical infrastructure operators and the U.S. military.
While the best and most secure technology must be deployed to fill these security gaps, it will also be incumbent on federal agencies to train their cyber workforces to understand the new ways AI is making cyber defense more challenging than ever before, and hone the skills needed to match adversaries and mitigate evolving threats.
The critical need for a well-trained cyber workforce
Federal networks are primary targets for nation-state actors, organized cybercrime groups, hacktivists and insider threats. These adversaries use advanced techniques such as advanced persistent threats, supply-chain attacks, zero-day exploitation, AI-assisted phishing and social engineering and infrastructure infiltration targeting critical services.]]>

As adversaries continually evolve in their tactics, techniques and procedures, cybersecurity personnel must receive ongoing training in threat detection, incident response, digital forensics and adversary behavior analysis. Without continual skills development that integrates how to utilize AI for cybersecurity operations, defenders will fall behind attackers.
The federal government has recognized this need for better and more frequent cyber workforce training. To that end, the administration and federal agencies have released the recent executive orders and additional guidance found in President Donald Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America, America’s AI Action Plan, Defense Department 8140 and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity to uplevel cyber training for the modern threat era. The strategy called for accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies for network defense. Federal workers need the skills to meet this mission.
The new breed of cyber training programs
Cybersecurity training and certification programs have increasingly moved beyond lecture and knowledge-based exams toward hands-on instructions that build practical skills. While concept-based testing establishes important foundations, the most effective programs – including those SANS Institute has championed for years – assess practitioners through realistic scenarios that reflect what they’ll actually face in the field. Federal agencies are accelerating this shift, recognizing that operational readiness requires more than theoretical understanding. This would include the United States Tech Force Information Cybersecurity Specialists called for in the June 2 executive order.
One of the most effective ways to achieve this readiness is through performance-based training. Programs should be led by instructors who are active expert security practitioners and should require students to use security tools in realistic, in-class scenarios.
Instructors who currently work in the field are better positioned to keep training aligned with the rapidly evolving threat landscape. Their firsthand experience enables them to incorporate the latest attack methods and defensive strategies, ensuring students develop the practical skills needed to address emerging cyber threats, especially with the fast pace of AI.
Certification programs should also emphasize scenario-based evaluation. Instead of relying primarily on written exams, participants should be assessed through hands-on tests that place them in high pressure situations. For example, they might be required to identify and respond to a simulated cyberattack or analyze new indicators of compromise and adjust defenses accordingly.
Programs built around these types of realistic scenarios more closely reflect the challenges practitioners face in the field. By evaluating performance in simulated incidents, training programs can measure not only technical knowledge but also hands-on skills plus critical thinking, decision-making and the ability to remain effective under pressure.]]>

The Defense Department’s chief information officer recently launched the Cyber Apprenticeship Program, which includes training in areas such as network defense and the application of artificial intelligence to cyber threat analysis. The program combines online learning, labs and mentorship to build AI-enabled cyber capabilities within the workforce.
AI can be a technological force for good. We need the public and private sectors in the U.S. to innovate in a way that enables those positive advancements, while addressing the security risks that come with operating on the leading edge of any technology revolution. The path from ad hoc usage of AI to a governed, enabled program can be effectively pursued by leveraging the “Protect, Utilize, Govern” framework for AI cybersecurity, as outlined in the SANS Secure AI Blueprint and the AI Security Maturity Model.
Continual performance-based training will be a critical component in making sure organizations can create new, mission-based AI technologies for government without risking national security in the process. Finally, we must never allow the speed of AI innovation to outpace the readiness of the defenders charged with protecting it, and we must remain singularly focused on delivering outcomes that matter most to the warfighters on the front lines of that defense.
Michael Harrison is managing director, North America public sector at SANS Institute.
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