I work at the intersection of cyber defense, AI safety, and emerging risk, where the threats are converging and the playbooks are still being written.

My career has taken me from the Marine Corps to NSA, U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. House of Representatives, Mandiant, and Netflix. Across every role, one throughline: understanding adversaries, building high-trust teams, and translating complex problems into strategies leaders can act on.

Today, I advise organizations, governments, and research institutions on AI governance, agentic threat preparedness, and unifying safety and security into a single discipline. I contribute to global standards efforts including the EU AI Act (via OWASP AI) and lead executive education on cybersecurity and AI strategy at SANS.

If you’re navigating the future of AI risk or security strategy, let’s connect.

Chris Cochran

As a U.S. Marine who spent years working alongside special operations teams, I learned that different missions require radically different mindsets.

Everybody loves the Navy SEAL archetype: aggressive, adaptive, and masters of improvisation.

But if you deploy AI agents with that mindset, you are inviting disaster. AI doesn’t have the judgment to improvise. When it tries, it makes mistakes.

In high-stakes business environments, you don't need the "bang" of chaos; you need the "whisper" of control. You need more of a Delta Force methodology.

In my latest article, I break down why AI requires more determinism, and less heroism, and introduce CONTROL for governing agentic AI.

Read the full strategy below. 👇

Field CISO & VP, AI Security @ SANS | Bridging Cyber Defense and Frontier AI Risk | Ex-NSA, Netflix, Mandiant | US Marine Veteran

Let me set the tone clearly: This is not a debate about which group is "better." Both are elite. Both accomplish the impossible. As a US Marine, I res

Open article: Why You Need to Manage AI Agents Like Delta Force, Not Navy SEALs by Chris Cochran • 4 min read

Why You Need to Manage AI Agents Like Delta Force, Not Navy SEALs

Amber DeVilbiss

Skyhigh Security

Sales Engineer

Teach Kids Tech

Founder, Chairman of the Board

Alkira, Inc.

Principal Solutions Architect

EVOTEK

Account Director

GuidePoint Security

Solutions Architect

Menlo Security Inc.

Senior Solutions Engineer

Forcepoint

Sr. Sales Engineer

Cyber Security Engineer (Contract)

GBprotect

Promoted from Senior Security Analyst to SOC Manager to oversee the Analyst and Operations teams within the SOC. Revised and developed processes to strengthen the current Security Operations Framework, while review policies and highlighting the challenges in managing SLAs. Responsible for security event monitoring, management, and response. Tracked, evaluated, and drove continuous improvement to the security architecture framework. Managed data outputs of all monitoring tools (SIEM, IDS/IPS, Nagios) and proactively drove appropriate security measures to protect client enterprises and end users. Created reports, dashboards, and various metrics for SOC operations and presentation to the client’s Executive Management teams.

SOC Manager

Promoted from SOC Manager to lead the global migration and deployment of the ArcSight 6.0 Platform. Built and managed a team consisting of Project Managers, Security Consultants, and Client Relationship Managers, to implement a Service Delivery department that serviced current client accounts in addition to acquiring new client accounts. Compared client performance against industry best practices to identify profitability and performance improvement opportunities. Coached the team on execution and delivery strategies, while providing feedback for personal and professional growth. Collaborated with the VP of Engineering and SOC Manager to lead the overall organizational strategy and reported directly to the Chief Operations Officer.

Service Delivery Manager

Managed 9 high profile client accounts in various industry verticals (Health Care, Financial, Manufacturing, Government, Law). Performed in-depth incident analysis of security events, tuned necessary monitoring devices (firewalls, SIEM), and provided support to the Security Operations Team. Conducted research on emerging security threats and provided correlation/trending activities. Provided reports on advanced threats, including Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) and Security Operations incidents. Developed reports, briefings and assessments to facilitate the understanding of cyber threats (bi-weekly, quarterly, annually).

Senior Security Analyst (Tier III)

Charles Schwab

Contracted to deploy and stand up a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) program at the Lone Tree campus. Developed rules and processes within the Symantec platform to mitigate insider threats. Helped train new onboarded contractors on all implementations and tuning processes to standardize procedures. Maintained incident documentation, analyzed incident trends, while identifying and translating data loss risks and planning mitigation into DLP policy rules. Constructed and tuned DLP policies to maximize risk reduction while minimizing false positives.

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The Battle

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