Weatherford Named DHS Cybersec Leader

Ex-Calif. CISO to Be First Cybersecurity Deputy Undersecretary
Weatherford Named DHS Cybersec Leader
Mark Weatherford, the former chief information security officer of California and Colorado, will be the new Department of Homeland Security deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity for the National Protection and Programs Directorate.

Weatherford will start work in mid-November in the newly created position, which absorbs some of the responsibilities previous performed by then Deputy Undersecretary Phillip Reitinger, who's now Sony's CISO (Reitinger Named SONY CISO).

After Reitinger's departure, DHS divvied up many of his responsibilities into two new positions: the cybersecurity one that Weatherford will hold and deputy undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate, a job given to Suzanne Spaulding, a former principal for the Bingham Consulting Group, a consultancy that helps clients deal with governments (see DHS Restructures Protection and Programs Unit). Spaulding's primary focus will be to reduce risk and enhance the resiliency of critical infrastructure, secure federal facilities and advance identity management and verification.

DHS says the newly created cybersecurity position will allow the department to better carry out its mission to create a safe, secure and resilient cyberspace. The department says Weatherford will focus on ensuring robust cybersecurity operations and communications resilience for DHS.

Since July 2010, Weatherford has been the vice president and chief security officer of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., where he directed the critical infrastructure and cybersecurity program at the not-for-profit with the stated mission to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America. (see Mark Weatherford Resigns as California CISO). A former naval cryptologic officer, Weatherford led the Navy's Computer Network Defense operations and the Navel Comnputer Incident Response Team.

Greg Schaffer, who has served as acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity for the last five months, will return to his position as assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications. Bobbie Stempfley, who has stepped up to lead cybersecurity and communications in Schaffer's absence, will return to her role as deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications.

As California CISO, Weatherford addressed cybersecurity challenges he faced in several podcast interviews with GovInfoSecurity.com, including:


About the Author

Eric Chabrow

Eric Chabrow

Retired Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity

Chabrow, who retired at the end of 2017, hosted and produced the semi-weekly podcast ISMG Security Report and oversaw ISMG's GovInfoSecurity and InfoRiskToday. He's a veteran multimedia journalist who has covered information technology, government and business.




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