As artificial intelligence (AI) adoption accelerates across government, federal and industry cybersecurity leaders said on Wednesday that agencies need to stay focused on mission outcomes rather than deploying the technology for its own sake.
At the Splunk GovSummit in Washington, leaders emphasized that while AI is advancing quickly, federal agencies must approach it deliberately.
“AI is not the outcome,” said Manuel “Manny” Medrano, director of the State Department’s Office of Cyber Monitoring and Operations. “The outcome is mission success.”
“As technologists, we chase down the shiny tool right away, and AI can definitely be that. But then, I think we have to step back a little bit and say, ‘Okay, what mission are we trying to accomplish?’” Medrano said. “Leverage the AI capability to then answer questions that maybe a human cannot answer.”
The State Department official added that his agency is pushing employees outside of their comfort zone “because we have to,” describing AI as a “fast moving train” that employees must adapt to.
Similarly, Bob Costello, former chief information officer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and now chief digital and information officer at Merlin Group, said workforce readiness must be a top priority as agencies expand AI use. Costello stepped down from his role at CISA last month.
“We’ve got to push each other hard because these are big problems to solve,” Costello said.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’re readying our people to handle [AI], including internships and elsewhere, so that we get people where they need to be, so that they feel comfortable using new technologies,” he added.
As interest in AI grows, Costello also warned agencies against adopting AI simply to check a box with senior leadership.
Costello said he often asks leaders: “What problem are you trying to solve?” In many cases, he said the problem they want to solve is not an AI problem, but a “different use case.”
“You just need to explain it in a way that resonates with them and, most importantly, with their mission. How does this help your mission perform better and just do the good things that government is trying to do every day,” he said.