The GIST of Govt IT

There's a workforce inside your agency that nobody hired, no one trained, and nobody is watching. We're talking about AI agents. In Episode 2 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean sit down with Elad Schulman, CEO and co-founder of Lasso Security, to unpack what it actually takes to secure an agentic federal enterprise that seemed to arrive on the scene overnight. They dig into AI sprawl, the new attack surface created by autonomous agents, and why traditional security playbooks don't work when the system you're defending is non-deterministic. Elad shares why "intent security" is the new frontier, how agentic red teaming finds vulnerabilities a hundred humans never would, and what happens when an agent goes rogue (hint: it doesn't have to be malicious to cause real damage). Also, what it takes for innovative non-traditional vendors to actually move at the speed the federal government now demands. Finally, if you task an AI agent to keep your house clean, you better make sure to instruct it not to kill your family.

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RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Featured Guest
- Elad Schulman, CEO & Co-Founder, Lasso Security
- Lasso Security
- Lasso Intent Security for AI Agents

OMB Memos & Executive Orders on Federal AI
- OMB M-25-21 — Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust
- OMB M-25-22 — Driving Efficient Acquisition of Artificial Intelligence in Government
- Executive Order 14179 — Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI
- America's AI Action Plan

Federal AI Use Case Inventories
- 2025 Federal Agency AI Use Case Inventory (GitHub)
- Federal AI Use Case Repository (Searchable)

AI Security Frameworks & Standards
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF)
- OWASP Top 10 for Agentic AI
- ISO/IEC 42001 — AI Management System Standard

GIST360 Webinar

- Securing AI at Scale: Adopting Intelligent and Autonomous Zero Trust Approaches 

Hosts

- Swish
- GIST360

CONNECT WITH US

Got an idea for a future episode? Want to be a guest? Let us know.

Brian Lake - [email protected]

Sean Applegate - [email protected]

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or gist360.com.

Sean and Brian kick off the inaugural episode of The GIST of Govt IT, and they're diving into why speed and real results are suddenly the only things that matter in federal IT, what's actually exciting in first response tech, and which consumer tech trends are about to hit the public sector harder than anyone expects. Then they turn to their big bets of 2026, where app modernization, AI, and data strategy are colliding into one massive shift, all riding on the infrastructure overhaul that's been put off for way too long. Finally, they discuss what the government is deprioritizing and deemphasizing when it comes to IT investments. Sean gets roasted about what car his wife will let him buy next.
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RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Conferences & Events
- Government Business Executive Forum (GBEF)
- EDGE@ces — GBEF's annual summit at CES

Government Design & Modernization
- America by Design initiative 
- National Design Studio
- Joe Gebbia — first U.S. Chief Design Officer
- Executive Order: "Improving Our Nation Through Better Design"

Industry Acquisitions Discussed
- ServiceNow to acquire Armis ($7.75B)
- IBM completes acquisition of Confluent ($11B)

Industry Partners & Communities
- ATARC — Advanced Technology Academic Research Center
- ATARC Working Groups (Zero Trust, Agentic AI, Cyber AI Convergence)
- Armis
- Dragos — OT cybersecurity

OT, Cybersecurity & Frameworks
- Purdue Model for ICS Security
- NIST SP 800-82 — Guide to Operational Technology Security
- NIST SP 800-53 — Security and Privacy Controls
- CISA — Industrial Control Systems resources
- CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model

Government Data & Open Policy
- Federal Data Strategy
- Data.gov

The Hosts
- Swish Data
- GIST 360

CONNECT WITH US

Got an idea for a future episode? Want to be a guest? Let us know.

Brian Lake - [email protected]

Sean Applegate - [email protected]

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or gist360.com.