# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PM-16 — Threat Awareness Program

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-16-threat-awareness-program
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5) › PM — Program Management
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `PM-16`·high·Component: **Program Management**

## What this control requires

> Implement a threat awareness program that includes a cross-organization information-sharing capability for threat intelligence. This program helps organizations share threat information, including tactics, techniques, and procedures used by adversaries, mitigations found effective against certain threats, and threat intelligence such as indications and warnings. Sharing can be bilateral or multilateral and may require special agreements for protection. This control supports the Governance capability within the Program Management family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control PM-16

### In plain English

Implement a threat awareness program that includes a cross-organization information-sharing capability for threat intelligence. In practice, this means you can prove you policy procedures-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

SP 800-53 is the catalogue every U.S. federal authorisation (FedRAMP, FISMA, CMMC) and most regulated industries point at. A missing control surfaces as a Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) item that an Authorizing Official must approve before the Authority To Operate is granted or renewed.

This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

## What an auditor looks for

A 3PAO (FedRAMP) or Independent Assessor (NIST RMF) tests against NIST SP 800-53A assessment procedures. For each control they expect a documented implementation that addresses every assessment objective (Examine, Interview, Test) and an implementation summary in the System Security Plan.

Within **Program Management**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control PM-16) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

### Operational checklist

-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Cross-Organization.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** procedures, management, information, organization, threat, protection, capability, threats.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Threat Awareness Program.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

-   [**Control PM-16(1)** — Automated Means For Sharing Threat Intelligence](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-16-1-automated-means-for-sharing-threat-intelligence)
-   [**Control AT-2(6)** — Cyber Threat Environment](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/at-2-6-cyber-threat-environment)
-   [**Control SI-3(10)** — Malicious Code Analysis](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-3-10-malicious-code-analysis)
-   [**Control MP-8(3)** — Controlled Unclassified Information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/mp-8-3-controlled-unclassified-information)
-   [**Control PM-29** — Risk Management Program Leadership Roles](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-29-risk-management-program-leadership-roles)
-   [**Control RA-10** — Threat Hunting](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-10-threat-hunting)

## References

-   [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5](https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/risk-management/sp800-53-controls)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Control PM-16`

Topics: governance riskawareness trainingthreat intelligencepolicy management

## Related compliance guidance

- [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): Start with the full NIST SP 800-53 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): If your obligation is protecting CUI in your own systems for a federal or defence contract, this derived subset — not the full catalogue — is the requirement.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most commercial SaaS already hold a SOC 2 Type 2, and FedRAMP 20x Class A is designed for providers that have one.