AT-1 — Policy and Procedures

Official NIST control content

Control statement

a.Develop, document, and disseminate to [Organization-defined: organization-defined personnel or roles]:
1. 1.[Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy that:
  1. (a)Addresses purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, and compliance; and
  2. (b)Is consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines; and
2. 2.Procedures to facilitate the implementation of the awareness and training policy and the associated awareness and training controls;
b.Designate an [Organization-defined: official] to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the awareness and training policy and procedures; and
c.Review and update the current awareness and training:
1. 1.Policy [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events] ; and
2. 2.Procedures [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events].

Official NIST discussion

Discussion

Awareness and training policy and procedures address the controls in the AT family that are implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on the development of awareness and training policy and procedures. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission- or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies that reflect the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission or business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to awareness and training policy and procedures include assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure.

Official OSCAL parameters

Organization-defined parameters

These values must be resolved through the organization’s tailoring and governance process. Bracketed parameter references in the control text identify where a decision is required.

organization-defined personnel or roles

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the awareness and training policy is to be disseminated is/are defined;

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the awareness and training procedures are to be disseminated is/are defined;

at-01_odp.03

officialan official to manage the awareness and training policy and procedures is defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current awareness and training policy is reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require the current awareness and training policy to be reviewed and updated are defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current awareness and training procedures are reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require procedures to be reviewed and updated are defined;

Original Bare Metal Cyber perspective

From control text to operational evidence

Use Policy and Procedures as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to role-based knowledge, behavior, awareness, and measurable workforce readiness.

Implementation workflow

Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.

Evidence examples

training plans and role assignments
completion and attendance records
exercise results and lessons learned
training-content approval records

Common failure patterns

generic annual training with no role context
completion treated as proof of competence
contractors or privileged users omitted
training content not updated after incidents

Questions practitioners should ask

What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?

Official NIST SP 800-53A content

Assessment objectives and methods

Show the assessment objective

AT-01a.
1. AT-01a.[01]an awareness and training policy is developed and documented;
2. AT-01a.[02]the awareness and training policy is disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
3. AT-01a.[03]awareness and training procedures to facilitate the implementation of the awareness and training policy and associated access controls are developed and documented;
4. AT-01a.[04]the awareness and training procedures are disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles].
5. AT-01a.01
  1. AT-01a.01(a)
    1. AT-01a.01(a)[01]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses purpose;
    2. AT-01a.01(a)[02]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses scope;
    3. AT-01a.01(a)[03]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses roles;
    4. AT-01a.01(a)[04]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses responsibilities;
    5. AT-01a.01(a)[05]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses management commitment;
    6. AT-01a.01(a)[06]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses coordination among organizational entities;
    7. AT-01a.01(a)[07]the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy addresses compliance; and
  2. AT-01a.01(b)the [Organization-defined: at-01_odp.03] awareness and training policy is consistent with applicable laws, Executive Orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines; and
AT-01b.the [Organization-defined: official] is designated to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the awareness and training policy and procedures;
AT-01c.
1. AT-01c.01
  1. AT-01c.01[01]the current awareness and training policy is reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. AT-01c.01[02]the current awareness and training policy is reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events];
2. AT-01c.02
  1. AT-01c.02[01]the current awareness and training procedures are reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. AT-01c.02[02]the current awareness and training procedures are reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events].

Examine

System security plan
privacy plan
awareness and training policy and procedures
other relevant documents or records

Interview

Organizational personnel with awareness and training responsibilities
organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities

Official relationships

Related controls

These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.

Source record

Authoritative sources

Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. Official control requirements and interpretations remain with NIST and the responsible authorizing organization.