Cupcakes & OODA Loops: Inside(r) Insights Into the New Federal AI Cyber Playbook

Last episode, we left you hanging with a question: when it comes to cybersecurity, what is the federal government doing to both leverage AI and defend against AI threats and most importantly, are we moving fast enough? In the conclusion of this two-part series, Sean takes us inside a White House industry day convened at the request of the Federal CISO Council. He breaks down the two themes of the day that framed very different problems: using AI to optimize cybersecurity (running a SOC, governance, and compliance faster) and securing AI itself. Brian and Sean dig into the agentic SOC, the build-vs-buy question for federal agencies, why data fragmentation is the recurring obstacle in every AI conversation, the role of MCP and RAG in getting agents to the data, and live demos. Cupcakes and OODA loops make an appearance and Sean provides his verdict on whether the government is moving fast enough and his hacker name is finally revealed.RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThe White House Industry Day- About the Indian Treaty Room, Eisenhower Executive Office Building Vendors & Demos Featured in the Episode- Lasso Security (AI red teaming and purple teaming)- SimSpace (full-stack cyber range simulation)- Elastic AI workflows (bring-your-own-LLM, air-gap deployable)AI Security Frameworks & Standards- OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications- OWASP AIVSS — AI Vulnerability Scoring System (agentic AI)- MITRE ATLAS (Adversarial Threat Landscape for AI Systems)Key Technical Concepts- Model Context Protocol (MCP) — bringing the agent to the data- Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) explained- CDM Program (Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation)- OODA Loop Industry & Government Collaboration Communities- ATARC — Advanced Technology Academic Research Center- ATARC Working Groups (Zero Trust, Agentic AI, Cyber AI Convergence)- Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)- OWASP (Open Worldwide Application Security Project)Other References- Geoffrey Moore, Crossing the Chasm (technology adoption lifecycle)- Jerry Garcia Ties - Grateful Dead Merch- Phish (The Band)Related Episodes- Episode 5: "Vibe Hacking" and Nation State Cyber Threats- Episode 2: Fighting Fire with Fire: Federal AI Security - Securing Agentic AI with Elad Schulman, CEO of Lasso SecurityThe Hosts & Show- Swish- GIST360CONNECT WITH USGot an idea for a future episode? Want to be a guest? Let us know.Brian Lake - [email protected] Applegate - [email protected] wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or gist360.com.