Literacy Training and Awareness is the first requirement in the Awareness and Training (03.02) family, and it is the baseline security training every system user has to receive. Where the Access Control family decides what users can do, Literacy Training and Awareness (03.02.01) makes sure users understand the risks and their responsibilities, including how to recognize and report insider threat, social engineering, and social mining. It has two (2) parts: provide security literacy training at defined moments (initial, on a recurring frequency, on system changes or defined events, and on the threat-recognition topics), and update the training content on a defined frequency and after defined events. R3 folds the R2 awareness requirement together with the R2 insider threat awareness requirement and wraps four (4) Organization-Defined Parameters (ODPs) around the whole thing.
A common difficulty with this requirement is running an annual training video and calling it done. R3 breaks this control into fifteen (15) assessment objectives, including separate objectives for recognizing and for reporting each of the three threat types, plus objectives for keeping the content current. Four of the objectives are the ODPs, and for Department of Defense (DoD) contractors those parameters are specified, so the frequency and triggering events are not left to you.
Where things stand for companies facing the transition from NIST 800-171 R2 to R3:
The following is reproduced verbatim from NIST 800-171 R3, requirement 03.02.01 Literacy Training and Awareness. Only the formatting has been adjusted for readability. This requirement has two (2) lettered parts, and part a has three numbered sub-parts:
The source controls are AT-02, AT-02(02), and AT-02(03) from NIST 800-53. Per the NIST discussion, organizations provide basic and advanced literacy training to all system users, including managers, senior executives, system administrators, and contractors, and the content addresses the need for security, incident response, operations security, and the handling of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). You can read the requirement directly at NIST 800-171 R3, 03.02.01 (p. 19).
Four (4) values sit inside this requirement. Depending on your contract, your organization may be permitted to define them. Organizations in the DIB subject to CMMC are not, because the DoD has defined them as policy.
The values below come from Attachment A of the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO) memorandum dated 10 April 2025 (signed David W. McKeown). The memo identifies each parameter by requirement sub-part, while NIST 800-171A R3 identifies the same parameter by ODP number. Both identifiers appear below so you can match your System Security Plan (SSP) language to either document.
The memo states that its values "will be updated as necessary," so confirm against the current version before writing them into policy.
NIST 800-171A R3 breaks 03.02.01 into fifteen (15) assessment objectives: four (4) Organization-Defined Parameters (ODPs) and eleven (11) determination statements. These AOs are:
Notice that recognizing and reporting are separate objectives for each of insider threat, social engineering, and social mining, which turns part a.3 into six (6) determination statements. If you are a DoD contractor, the four (4) ODPs are specified. Per the DoD-specified ODP values in ComplianceForge's NIST 800-171 R3 Transition Guide, the training frequency after initial training and the content-update frequency are both at least every twelve (12) months, and the events that trigger training and content updates are significant or novel incidents or significant changes to risks. The full guidance on assessment methods and objects, is in NIST 800-171A R3, 03.02.01 (p. 22).
Examine: security literacy training and awareness policy and procedures; procedures for security literacy training and awareness implementation; codes of federal regulations; security literacy and awareness training curriculum; security literacy and awareness training materials; training records; system security plan.
Interview: personnel with responsibilities for security literacy training and awareness; personnel comprising the general system user community; personnel with information security responsibilities.
Test: mechanisms for managing information security literacy training and awareness.
03.02.01 maps from NIST 800-171 R2 requirement 3.2.1 (ensure that managers, systems administrators, and users of organizational systems are made aware of the security risks associated with their activities and of the applicable policies, standards, and procedures), and it folds in R2 requirement 3.2.3 (provide security awareness training on recognizing and reporting potential indicators of insider threat):
Mapped against the fifteen (15) AOs, one (1) is direct (minimal effort), eight (8) are indirect (moderate effort), two (2) are net new, and four (4) have no clear mapping, with the last two (2) categories both counting as significant effort. The awareness and insider threat content carries forward, but the content-update objectives are new and the four (4) ODPs have no R2 predecessor, so six of the fifteen (15) objectives are significant effort. Social engineering and social mining recognition and reporting are now explicit objectives, which many R2 programs covered informally at best.
Source Controls in NIST 800-53 R5:
Secure Controls Framework (SCF) Crosswalk
Organizations running a single control set across multiple frameworks can satisfy 03.02.01 through the following SCF controls:
The crosswalks from NIST 800-171 R3 and NIST 800-171A R3 to the SCF are available at no cost through the SCF Set Theory Relationship Mapping (STRM): https://securecontrolsframework.com/start-here/set-theory-relationship-mapping-strm. The STRM also carries the relationship type for each mapping (Equal, Subset Of, Intersects With), which tells you whether an SCF control fully satisfies the requirement or only part of it. Mapping above taken from SCF 2026.3.
The following are issues teams may encounter rather than certainties. They are about the expanded scope and the parameters, each of which needs documented evidence of due diligence and due care such as policies, standards, procedures, and configuration screenshots:
Reasonable objective evidence for an assessment is often subjective. The following examples of evidence to address NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01 are sourced from the SCF Evidence Request List (ERL), available at https://securecontrolsframework.com/free-content/scf-download. These ERL artifacts are mapped to NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01 through SCF controls. They establish a starting point for discussions on what an organization needs to have for evidence of due diligence and due care to withstand external scrutiny by an assessor or regulator.
Alongside these, keep the System Security Plan (SSP) narrative for 03.02.01 recording the ODP values you adopted.
With six (6) of the fifteen (15) AOs at significant effort (two net new and four with no clear mapping), 03.02.01 is a real lift despite being a training requirement. A realistic sequence:
What value does the DoD require for the first parameter in NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01? R3 leaves the value to the organization. For the DIB, the DoD set it in the 10 April 2025 memorandum under ODP identifier 03.02.01.a.01: at least every 12 months.
How many assessment objectives does NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01 have? NIST 800-171A R3 breaks 03.02.01 into fifteen (15) assessment objectives: four (4) Organization-Defined Parameters (ODPs) and eleven (11) determination statements. An assessor works through each one separately, so each needs its own evidence.
Which NIST 800-53 R5 controls does NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01 come from? AT-02, AT-02(02), AT-02(03).
Where does NIST 800-171 R3 03.02.01 sit in the NIST 800-171 R3 Kill Chain? Phase 21, Security Awareness Training. The Kill Chain is a phased model for sequencing R3 implementation, and it assigns this requirement to that phase.
03.02.01 Literacy Training and Awareness provides baseline security training to all system users and keeps the content current. It maps from R2 3.2.1 and folds in 3.2.3, but six of its fifteen (15) assessment objectives are significant effort because the content-update objectives are net new and the four (4) ODPs have no R2 predecessor. The recurring problem is an annual video with no update process and no explicit coverage of social engineering and social mining. Define the frequencies and events (for DoD, at least every twelve months and significant incidents or risk changes), train everyone on recognizing and reporting all three threat types, keep the content updated, and retain the records.
Authoritative sources:
Authoritative sources:
This guide reproduces U.S. Government text from NIST 800-171 R3 and NIST 800-171A R3 and references the DoD ODP memorandum of 10 April 2025. It is educational, not legal or assessment advice. Last reviewed: 2026-09-22.
