Former Department of Defense (DoD) chief information security officer (CISO) David McKeown has been tapped as the agency’s first-ever special assistant for cybersecurity innovation, DoD’s CIO Office (CIO) said.
The office confirmed the new role in a LinkedIn post on Dec. 20, and said McKeown is assuming oversight of a “spectrum of programs and operations to ensure DoD is prepared to meet future challenges in an evolving battlespace.”
Under the new role which began on Dec. 16, McKeown will build and oversee a DoD CIO Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to focus on “long-range, complex challenges of innovation in this critical area.”
“The cyber threat landscape is growing and rapidly evolving. Real-world events highlight the complexity of daily cybersecurity operations; however, the nature of the threat means we must also have a robust and adaptive approach to cybersecurity innovation,” the CIO office said. “We must fundamentally change how we do business to meet these simultaneous challenges.”
“Establishing this new office divorces the day-to-day activities such as Zero Trust implementation, Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity programs, and policy development from the requirement to look over the horizon and take on the following cybersecurity threat,” it continued.
The DoD CIO said that the office will be built in collaboration with the Special Advisor for Cybersecurity Innovation.
McKeown, who also served as the deputy CIO for cybersecurity at the DoD, teased that he will be looking into propping up additional centers of excellence to address other concerns as part of his “top 10 list” of priorities in the new role, while speaking on a panel at an AFCEA NOVA event on Dec. 13.
“There’ll probably be a center of [artificial intelligence] excellence, [machine learning] excellence in the future,” said McKeown.
He emphasized his focus on streamlining priorities, including creating standardized plans to minimize misinterpretation and enhancing interoperability among the various branches of the Defense Department.
“Everybody kind of takes their little authorities and walls themselves off in their money, and they do their own thing … We’re not connected the way we need to be. So, I really want to get after that, build the appropriate advance, build the appropriate skill sets, and do this right,” he said.
With over three decades of experience working within the DoD, McKeown has held roles as the U.S. Air Force cyberspace operations officer; director of enterprise information and mission assurance for the Army’s Information Technology Agency; and the cybersecurity center chief and enterprise services center chief for the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Joint Service Provider.
Before joining the DoD CIO, he led the Department of Justice’s Service Delivery Staff.
Former DoD principal director for cybersecurity and deputy chief information security officer, Gurpreet Bhatia, is fulfilling the responsibilities of acting deputy CIO for cybersecurity and CISO following McKeown’s move.
