UMD Cybersecurity Center Launch Event Set for Dec. 9

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The University of Maryland, College Park will launch the new Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2, or “MC-squared”) with a special event on Thursday, December 9, 2010 in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building Rotunda from 1:30-3:00 pm. Registration is required to attend the event.

Working together with government and industry, MC2 will promote education, research, and technology development in the emerging field of cybersecurity. The new center will adopt a “more than tech,” interdisciplinary approach to this national challenge, capitalizing on College Park's close proximity to Washington, D.C., and key government agencies engaged in cybersecurity. MC2 will bring together experts from engineering and computer science with colleagues from across campus in fields such as information sciences, business, public policy, social sciences and economic policy to develop innovative new solutions to cybersecurity.

The event will include opening remarks by university officials, including University of Maryland President Wallace Loh and University System of Maryland Chancellor William Kirwan. The program will also feature remarks from representatives from industry partners, including Vice President of Cyber Security Solutions for Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions Charles Croom, and Senior Vice President and General Manager Intelligence & Information Solutions Business Unit for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Larry Cox. The program will conclude with a keynote talk by Former Director of National Intelligence and current Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton Mike McConnell, titled "Has the Cyberwar Threat Been Grossly Exaggerated?"

A reception will follow the program. Student and faculty demos will be on display in the Innovation Hall of Fame area in the Kim Building from 1:00 – 1:30 and 3:00 – 4:00 pm. The event will also be video recorded and streamed live on the web here.

For more information about the Maryland Cybersecurity Center, visit www.cyber.umd.edu.

About the speakers:

Charles “Charlie” Croom joined Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions as Vice President of Cyber Security Solutions in October of 2008. In this capacity, he shapes the corporation’s cyber security strategy with insight from his 35 years of distinguished service, leadership, and technology experience from the U.S. Air Force.

Croom co-chaired a National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee Task Force on “Strengthening Government and Private Sector Collaboration” which issued a May 2009 report recommending that the President direct the establishment of a Joint Coordinating Center.

Croom retired as a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General, Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and the Commander of the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations in September 2008. While at DISA, he led a worldwide organization of more than 6,600 military and civilian personnel to serve the information technology and telecommunications needs of the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders, and other Department of Defense stakeholders.

A graduate of Rutgers University’s ROTC program, Croom entered the Air Force in 1973. His career spanned four commands to include: major command, numbered air force, Air Staff, defense agency, Joint Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and unified command levels. He holds bachelors’ degrees in both Economics and Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, a master’s degree in Management and Business Administration from Webster College, and Distinguished graduate degrees from both Squadron Officer School, and Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base. Additionally, he has completed Executive Development programs at Harvard University, Cornell University, and the National War College.

Larry D. Cox was appointed senior vice president and general manager of Science Applications International Corporation’s (SAIC’s) Intelligence & Information Solutions (IIS) Business Unit (BU) in April 2005. IIS is a 2,500-person business unit with annual revenues in excess of $700 million. The main focus of the BU’s work is in cyber security and advanced technology development for the Department of Defense, as well as state and local governments.

Cox came to SAIC from Lockheed Martin, where he was vice president of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Strategy. He was founder and president of ORINCON Sygenex, Inc., a high-technology systems development company, which was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2003.

Cox spent three years on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he held program and budget oversight responsibility for space, advanced technology, communications and remote sensing programs. Prior to that, Cox spent eight years with General Electric Company in Valley Forge, Pa and held many engineering and managerial positions, including senior systems engineer, chief scientist for Ground Systems, program manager for Space and Ground Systems and business development manager for Intelligence Programs; and eleven years with the National Security Agency (NSA), where he held various cryptologic positions in the field and at headquarters.

Cox earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Maryland. He is on the Board of Directors of the National Correlation Working Group, SAIC Pty Ltd. and Inquirion Pty Ltd Australia, CloudShield Technologies, and the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore. He was a technical advisor to Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, “Enemy of the State” in 1997 and 1998. He served on the Aspin-Brown Defense commission, the NRO Commission and the Kerr Remote Sensing Panel and serves as a panel member of the NSA Advisory Board.

Mike McConnell is Executive Vice President and leader of the National Security Business for Booz Allen Hamilton and is a member of the firm’s Leadership Team. Mr. McConnell previously served from 2007-2009 as U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI), a position of Cabinet rank under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As DNI, Mr. McConnell served as the principal intelligence advisor to the President and as a member of the U.S. National Security Council.

Mr. McConnell’s career has spanned over 40 years focusing on international developments and foreign intelligence issues, first as a career intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, as the Senior Intelligence Officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Director of the National Security Agency, and later as Senior Vice President with Booz Allen Hamilton after retiring from the U.S. Navy as Vice Admiral after 29 years of service. Over the past few years, Mr. McConnell’s area of focus has been counter-terrorism, cyber security, counter-proliferation, and foreign intelligence. While managing the U.S. Intelligence Community, a organization of 100,000 people, he had responsibility for a global enterprise and budget of over $47B. In this capacity, Mr. McConnell had extensive interactions with the White House, the President’s Cabinet, the Congress, International Leaders, and the U.S. Business Community.

Serving first under President George H. W. Bush and later President Clinton, Mr. McConnell served as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1992-1996. He led NSA as it adapted to the multi-polar threats brought about by the end of the Cold War. Under his leadership, NSA routinely provided global Intelligence and Information Security Services to the White House, Cabinet officials and the Congress in addition to a broad array of military and civil intelligence customers. He also served as a member of the senior leadership team of the Director of Central Intelligence to address major programmatic and substantive foreign intelligence issues from 1992 until 1996.

Prior to his service at NSA and during Desert Shield/Storm and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mr. McConnell served as the Intelligence Officer for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell and the Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney.

Mr. McConnell holds an M.P.A. degree from George Washington University, is a graduate of the National Defense University (Global Telecom) and the National Defense Intelligence College (Strategic Intelligence), and holds a B.A. in Economics from Furman University. He also has been awarded three Honorary Doctorate degrees, the most recent from The George Washington University in 2008. Mr. McConnell is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In addition to many of the nation's highest military awards for meritorious service, Mr. McConnell has been twice awarded the nation's highest award for service in the Intelligence Community; once by President Clinton and once by President George W. Bush. He also served as the Chairman and CEO of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA).

U. of Md. Creates New Cybersecurity Center: MyFoxDC.com

Published December 7, 2010