WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to pilot-test security technologies with specific critical infrastructure communities across the country as it implements its new cybersecurity strategy.
The goal of the pilot programs is to “make sure that we can deploy new technology much more quickly than we’ve done in the past,” National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said on Monday during an event hosted by USTelecom.
The White House is still inviting states and businesses to apply to participate in the program, but Cairncross said confirmed participants include the water sector in Texas, the beef industry in South Dakota and rural hospitals in unspecified states.
The administration’s goal is “finding solutions at cost and an ability to scale that meet the moment and the threat,” Cairncross said.
AI and state-by-state partnerships
Later on Monday, at a separate event here hosted by the Billington conference company, Cairncross said the Trump administration wanted to stop looking for “a universal solution” or “a 50-state approach” to the cybersecurity challenges facing critical infrastructure organizations.
Instead, he said, the government will begin by testing defensive technologies in partnership with individual state governments and industries, and then “infuse some artificial intelligence into that … and, as we have successes, build off of those.”
“I believe in finding concrete things that work … and then scale on that success,” said Cairncross, a former chief executive of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and chief operating officer of the Republican National Committee.
ONCD officials are still working on a list of states and industries for the pilot program.
“If you are interested in working with us on a pilot, we’d love to hear from you,” Seth McKinnis, the deputy assistant national cyber director for critical infrastructure, said during a panel at the Billington conference that followed Cairncross’s remarks.
