In this monthly column, Defense Daily highlights individuals from across the government, industry and academia whose efforts contribute daily to national defense, from the program managers to the human resource leaders, to the engineers and logistics officers.
Michael Harrison is the Managing Director of North America Public Sector at the SANS Institute focusing on expanding cyber training for federal and defense cyber practitioners. He is a Founding Member of the Tech Innovation Circle at Public Spend Forum and his career previously included serving in leadership in the 101st Airborne Division, advising the Deputy Secretary of Defense, serving as a White House Fellow, developing cybersecurity simulations at SimSpace and investing in early-stage B2B SaaS through TFX Capital.
How did you get involved in the defense industry or community?
My introduction to the defense community started when, as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, I interacted with private companies supporting military training across the globe. Over a twenty-year military career with multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan and eastern Europe, my teams and I directly benefitted from American innovation and the vital role of the private sector in advancing training and tools for our military and government.
Perhaps most impactful, during my time in the White House and Pentagon, I recognized the value of the defense industry’s mandate to ensure we maintain our competitive overmatch against near-peer and emerging threats. I also gained an appreciation for the accelerated pace of technological disruption, and the strategic importance of the public-private partnership in the pursuit of national security imperatives.
One of our nation’s competitive advantages is its entrepreneurial spirit and a thriving marketplace of ideas. A society becomes increasingly technological-driven, even greater synergy between business and government is essential to sustain a vibrant economy and country.
As I transitioned from the military to the private sector, I sought out a team and mission that allowed me to continue supporting those who answered the call to serve. I was drawn to SANS for its clear focus on supporting operators at the tip of the cyber spear defending our nation. This led me down the path of supporting the advancement and maintenance of several defense and national security agencies’ cybersecurity practices.
What are some challenges you faced working through your career?
The greatest challenge I faced in my career was preparing to lead and thrive in ambiguity. In the military, our mandate was to remain ready to deploy anywhere in the world on very
short notice. The complexity of this is that the threat or mission we trained against was rarely exactly what we were asked to execute.
This asymmetry required us to build and maintain an agile, adaptive and cohesive team ready to sprint towards a threat despite the risk and uncertainty. Leading in this context requires humility, curiosity and a servant mindset. Luckily, I was blessed to serve alongside an amazing team of warriors who made my job easy.
Did you feel like you always had sufficient mentors and leaders to help guide you? Why/why not?
The military does an incredible job of mentoring leaders and soldiers to prepare them for future success. We have all benefitted from mentors, teachers, coaches and leaders that invested in us and directly contributed to our success. I was taught very early on we should all help continue to pay it forward and invest in the next generation.
How do you work to be a mentor yourself to younger counterparts?
Mentorship is so valuable at every level of your career. At SANS, it’s built into our culture by collaborating with experienced practitioners and educators to deliver meaningful, hands-on cybersecurity training.
Given this collaborative work environment, I strive to make myself available to younger professionals interested in cybersecurity, military service or leadership. We owe it to those to came before us to pay it forward and invest in the next generation. I’m blessed to be able to spend time mentoring, encouraging and investing in the success of our future leaders and practitioners.
I spend quite a bit of time with my mentees casting vision and helping define actionable, executable goals (and writing them down!). I have found we are all much more likely to achieve our goals and big dreams when they are written down and help inform the daily micro-decisions that ultimately impact significant life decisions.
What does it mean to be successful in your career field?
It all comes down to how we help invest in people—full stop. Success in this field means investing in people and ensuring the next generation of cyber practitioners is prepared for evolving threats. It’s reflected in the real-world resiliency of federal and defense agencies. The work we do at SANS has a tangible impact on improving cybersecurity resiliency by focusing on applied knowledge and validated skills that translate into stronger defensive outcomes.
What are some of the under-appreciated positions in the defense field, the unsung heroes or essential cogs in the machine that help the job get done with less recognition?
There are many, but two stand out:
Cyber defenders and analysts operate in a constant state of vigilance. When they’re successful, nothing bad happens, which often means their contributions go unnoticed. In reality, they actively prevent adversary movement, protect sensitive data and ensure operational continuity, directly enabling mission success.
Training and workforce development professionals, who build and sustain cyber capabilities by translating complex threat landscapes into practical, actionable skills for real-world scenarios. In many ways, they are the force multipliers—scaling expertise and ensuring consistency in readiness.
These roles are essential to national defense but rarely make the headlines. Elevating these roles means recognizing their impact, investing in their development and ensuring they have the tools and support needed to stay ahead of evolving threats.
How can the industry improve in promoting these individuals and building them up?
The defense and national security community has an opportunity to more intentionally elevate and invest in the cyber defenders and training professionals who quietly sustain mission readiness every day.
For cyber defenders and analysts, recognition should move beyond incident response metrics and instead highlight their role as a proactive force in mission assurance. Elevating their contributions means creating clear career pathways tied to demonstrated, real-world skills and ensuring they have ongoing access to advanced, hands-on training.
What is your advice for new entrants to the defense/military community?
This is a community that is built on a mission-first mindset. The beauty of the military is that it brings together people from all walks of life—from Compton, California to Dallas to upstate New York. Each serves for different reasons as well, whether a calling, family tradition or patriotism.
But what makes the military such a cohesive and effective team is that once you take the oath and put on the uniform, everyone is united in one singular mission-first, nation-always focus. My advice would be to bring curiosity and purpose to everything you do to further support the warfighter. Use every opportunity for continuous learning to expand your technical and strategic understanding.
What do you see as the future of your sector in national defense?
While the pace of technology continues to accelerate, the most important part of our mission will remain investing in, and focusing on, the people.
Cyber training programs are essential to building the next generation of talent. At SANS, our core responsibility in the defense sector is providing world-class cybersecurity training for operators supporting real-world missions. Partnerships between industry, government and academia are accelerating workforce readiness and expanding access into cybersecurity careers.
AI will also play a transformative role in national defense, but its impact depends on how well it’s understood and applied. While AI can enhance threat detection, it must be paired with human expertise to validate, interpret and act on those insights. In national defense environments where false positives and misinterpretation carry real operational risk, human judgment remains indispensable.
The future is not autonomous defense. It’s human and machine teaming that reduces noise, accelerates triage and improves strategic decision-making. AI won’t replace cybersecurity professionals. Cybersecurity professionals who use AI will replace those who don’t. Again, when in doubt, bet on, and invest in, people. People matter!
Who are the Force Multipliers in your community? Let us know at forcemultipliers@defensedaily.com.
