Response to NCCoE Concept Paper: Intent Conveyance as the Missing Layer in AI Agent Identity and Authorization
FROM INSTINCT TO INTENT™ SERIES
Nikhil Singhal · March 2026
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence released a concept paper in February 2026, "Accelerating the Adoption of Software and AI Agent Identity and Authorization," seeking public input on a potential demonstration project for AI agent governance. Comments are due April 2, 2026.
This response argues that current identity and authorization models for AI agents are necessary but not sufficient. Authentication answers "who is this agent?" and authorization answers "what can it access?" but neither answers "why is it taking this action?" The paper proposes intent conveyance as the missing layer.