Seven months after President Barack Obama announced he would be appointing a federal chief information security officer to act as the point person on agency cybersecurity, the administration named Gregory Touhill as the first to occupy the post.
Touhill is currently the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications in Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications.
Prior to DHS, Touhill served as a commander and CIO in the Air Force, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general. Before retiring from the military in 2013, he was serving as the CIO and director of C4 systems for U.S. Transportation Command.
Touhill will help set cybersecurity for the entire federal government, working under Federal CIO Tony Scott in the Office of Management and Budget.
“In his new role as federal CISO, Greg will leverage his considerable experience in managing a range of complex and diverse technical solutions at scale with his strong knowledge of both civilian and military best practices, capabilities, and human capital training, development and retention strategies,” Scott said in a Sept. 8 blog postco-authored with Michael Daniel, White House cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to the president.
“Greg will lead a strong team within OMB who have been at the forefront of driving policy and implementation of leading cyber practices across federal agencies, and is the team that conducts periodic cyberstat reviews with federal agencies to insure that implementation plans are effective and achieve the desired outcomes.”
Scott also cited OMB’s Cyber Workforce Policy, a new initiative to recruit and retain top cybersecurity talent, which Touhill will lead.
The new federal CISO will be joined by Grant Schneider, who was named acting deputy CISO on Sept. 8, as well. Schneider currently serves on the National Security Council as director of cybersecurity policy.
