SourceAmerica’s Abbas Adnan on AI and cybersecurity in the federal workforce

Next up, I will be joined right here on stage by Source America's senior advisor, Abbas Adnan, for an industry interview on the state of emerging technologies

Put your hands together and please welcome Abbas to the stage. For over 45 years, we've made it our mission to champion the value of people with disabilities in the workplace

increasing employment opportunities, choices, and independence. Through the Source America Nationwide Network and Individuals with Disabilities

we connect valuable skills and high-quality products and services with the needs of organizations across the country

We are a force in creating a more inclusive workplace. We're helping people with disabilities make essential contributions

that lead to healthier economies nationwide. Work Include Connect Multiply Advocate

These words define Source America. They encompass everything we're doing to empower individuals with disabilities

so they can keep coming through for everyone. It is great to have you here

As we did with Rob, let's start with a bit of an introduction, first and foremost, to

yourself and your work for anyone in the audience who might have heard of you but might not

be too familiar with the ins and outs. Not everybody looked at my LinkedIn profile before they came

Good morning, everyone. My name is Abbas Adnan. I'm a senior advisor for Source America

I've been with Source America for three years. And in this role, I really am sort of a subject matter expert on information technology to Source

America and 400 plus AbilityOne federal contractors within our network. So I've spent about 25 years in the IT space, everything from software development, enterprise

architecture, network management, cybersecurity. All the fun stuff, basically. All the fun stuff, yeah

Moving with the flow, so to speak. Yeah, of course. Somehow and possibly I've gone through this whole day of programming so far without really

talking about artificial intelligence, which is very different from me. So I'm going to foremost talk about AI with you

which of course is driving so much of our conversation. What do you see as being the biggest opportunities

and the biggest challenges to using it responsibly as part of the element of the workforce that you come at it from

Yeah, from my perspective, I think in terms of challenges, is artificial intelligence remains quite the unknown for a lot of at least the AbilityOne stakeholders

So for us, it's what is artificial intelligence. and the challenge for me and for Source America

is really to educate and inform AbilityOne federal contractors on what is possible with artificial intelligence The AbilityOne program is an engine of opportunity and economic empowerment for people who are blind or have significant disabilities

And there are misperceptions that artificial intelligence may take jobs away from them

And I think the challenge is really educating them as to what artificial intelligence

what is possible in the AbilityOne program with artificial intelligence. And conversely, what artificial intelligence isn't

So I think it's really an education and information campaign that needs to be pushed out

At the same time, opportunity for us is really what I call greenfield

So using artificial intelligence responsibly, specifically for the AbilityOne program, is finding, I think, the right use cases

For instance, artificial intelligence may not replace, may not completely replace contact center

CERP representatives, help desk representatives, but it certainly can help them to improve response

times when they have challenging problems, and I think align on really what is some of

the more common problems. Along with artificial intelligence, we've really leaned forward into some automation and robotics

And we did a study back in 2024, sort of a modernization effort around creating efficiencies for a lot of our AbilityOne federal contractors

And what we actually discovered was that through this modernization and automation, that AbilityOne federal contractors were able to take on more contracts because the production that came about as a result, the output was really more of a benefit, right

So it wasn't necessarily what people may have perceived as a job killer, but was in fact an enhancer

And I think pairing artificial intelligence as the brain behind robotics and automation is the future for the AbilityOne program

Yeah. I'm curious what your use of AI looks like for you, because I think, obviously, for me, anecdotally, for a lot of people, it's like chat GPT for recipes

And to help, like, my schedule and the little things on the I can't imagine in terms of, you know, geopolitics and the big challenges facing the world, it looks exactly the same for Source America

What does actual AI implementation look like at the scale that you're discussing? I think it's a couple of things

I think at least in where we perform services that support the warfighter

and not necessarily in maybe pressure situations, but things like making appointments to see a doctor right or for your family It using artificial intelligence to find the right times and the right appointments right

so the right locations. I think in a lot of cases, if somebody has a typical help desk problem

that artificial intelligence can help kind of be the front end to take care of some of the more common tier one, tier two issues

with respect to products and maybe how things are manufactured using artificial intelligence

to turn what may be a perceived disability into, in fact, ability is a game changer

I'll give you another example. So we have an AbilityOne federal contractor who works almost exclusively with people with autism

And those individuals are helping to train artificial intelligence in the markup language in certain screening instances, right

So they are teaching the screening system through images how to discern between benign pieces of luggage versus real threats, right

So for me, that is using artificial intelligence responsibly, at least in our case, right

So it is taking advantage of something that somebody is really good at in another situation

I think, to support that employee, but also to support the warfighter

Yeah. What emerging technologies do you think will most shape how the federal workforce supports

the general theme of mission success? I think those emerging technologies, certainly cybersecurity, is one of the most important

I think artificial intelligence and I think data, right? Data management. Artificial intelligence we've spoken about a little bit already

I think when it comes to data, artificial intelligence, data, cybersecurity, really kind of work hand in hand

So the storage of that data and how to use it and where to put it and having it ready for purpose-driven missions is a key, I think

Without the data behind the scenes, the artificial intelligence kind of lags, right

And I think cybersecurity, there are threats that we see every day, right

And I think coupling that access and artificial intelligence and cyber really go hand in hand

to make sure that we are doing things that are mandated by the government, right

And I think for a large number of AbilityOne federal contractors that cyber posture is where we moving to So the cybersecurity maturity model certification if you want to do business with the federal government and with the DOD you need to be aware of the implications of

cybersecurity. Everybody knows that. For our AbilityOne federal contractors, that's something new for them, right? Even though they're not maybe directly interfacing, except for maybe

email, but even certain billing systems, right, need to be identified and mitigated

I think the other thing that puts us in a cyber posture, I think, is the DOD manual 8140

and that's the cyberspace warfare and qualification piece. AbilityOne federal employees

we're leaning forward towards readying those employees according to the DOD M8140

It's a matter of access, and one can hire people who may be able to do the job

but we've seen real examples of having done that, and then while they may have been hired

getting access to those particular systems is something that we hadn't thought of previously

So we have somebody who is there, ready and willing and able to work

yet we find that bringing them, getting them a certification is really where we want to be

so that they're ready to hit the road running from day one and support the Department of Defense and the warfighter

I got just over a minute left. Which of these emerging threats

or anything that you follow in your general space do you think the rest of us should be paying a little bit more attention to

I think with respect to threats, cyber is an ever-evolving topic

And with respect to the AbilityOne program, I think it's important for people to understand

that the AbilityOne program is leaning forward in those 21st century technologies

So we have people that are performing cybersecurity today, supporting the Air Force, supporting

the Department of Defense. And I think most importantly that when you think about these topics and these threats

remember the AbilityOne program, right? So, as I said, it's an engine of opportunity and economic empowerment

And Source America, in our own way, is readying our AbilityOne federal contractors by working with federal agencies on procurement processes that will allow

Maybe not allow, but certainly lean forward towards the AbilityOne program. All right, Abbas Adnan is joining us here from Source America

Senior Advisor, very grateful for your time and perspective, and thanks a lot for joining us

Great to have you. Thanks for having me. Have a great day, everyone. We're here for our special guest. Thanks a lot for being here