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The Principals Committee
The CIG is a community of cyber professionals led by a group of distinguished experts with decades of experience. CIG Principals meet four times a year to help set the agenda for CIG Virtual Summits. They bring deep expertise and diverse perspective to the challenges of security, education, and collaboration in cyber.
The Experts
When you engage with the Cyber Initiatives Group community, you're talking with individuals who include the experts below, who come from diverse backgrounds rooted in the public and private sectors.
John Carlin
Cipher Brief Expert, Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Former Cipher Brief Expert John P. Carlin currently serves as the U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General. He formerly chaired Morrison & Foerster’s Global Risk and Crisis Management practice, advising industry-leading organizations in sensitive cyber and other national security matters, white collar investigations, and government enforcement actions. He is author of Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China and the Rising Global Cyber Threat.
Mr. Carlin previously served as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, overseeing nearly 400 employees responsible for protecting the nation against terrorism, espionage, and cyber and other national security threats. During his tenure, the National Security Division (NSD): investigated the attack on Sony Entertainment’s computer systems; secured the first federal jury conviction on charges brought under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996; and led DOJ’s participation on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.
Prior to assuming his role in the NSD, Mr. Carlin served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to Robert S. Mueller, III, former director of the FBI, where he helped lead the FBI’s evolution to meet growing and changing national security threats, including cyber threats. Mr. Carlin also held positions as National Coordinator of the DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he prosecuted cyber, fraud, and public corruption matters, among others, trying more than 40 cases to verdict.
Former Cipher Brief Expert John P. Carlin currently serves as the U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General. He formerly chaired Morrison & Foerster’s Global Risk and Crisis Management practice, advising industry-leading organizations in sensitive cyber and other national security matters, white collar investigations, and government enforcement actions. He is author of Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China and the Rising Global Cyber Threat.
Mr. Carlin previously served as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, overseeing nearly 400 employees responsible for protecting the nation against terrorism, espionage, and cyber and other national security threats. During his tenure, the National Security Division (NSD): investigated the attack on Sony Entertainment’s computer systems; secured the first federal jury conviction on charges brought under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996; and led DOJ’s participation on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.
Prior to assuming his role in the NSD, Mr. Carlin served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to Robert S. Mueller, III, former director of the FBI, where he helped lead the FBI’s evolution to meet growing and changing national security threats, including cyber threats. Mr. Carlin also held positions as National Coordinator of the DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he prosecuted cyber, fraud, and public corruption matters, among others, trying more than 40 cases to verdict.
Suzanne Spaulding
Senior Adviser, Homeland Security, International Security Program
Suzanne Spaulding is senior adviser for homeland security and director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Previously, she served as undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led the National Protection and Programs Directorate, now called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), managing a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000 that is charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. Ms. Spaulding has worked in the executive branch in Republican and Democratic administrations and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. She was general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and minority staff director for the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was assistant general counsel and the legal adviser to the director’s Nonproliferation Center. She was executive director of two congressionally created commissions, on weapons of mass destruction and on terrorism. Following the attacks of 9/11, Ms. Spaulding worked with key critical infrastructure sectors as they reviewed their security posture and advised the CEOs of the Business Roundtable. In 2002, she was appointed by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia to the Secure Commonwealth Panel to advise the governor and the legislature regarding preparedness issues. She was managing partner of the Harbour Group, a principal in the Bingham Consulting Group, and of counsel to Bingham McCutchen LLP. In addition to her work at CSIS, Ms. Spaulding currently serves on a number of corporate boards and advisory boards and is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group (HSEG).
Suzanne Spaulding is senior adviser for homeland security and director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Previously, she served as undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led the National Protection and Programs Directorate, now called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), managing a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000 that is charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. Ms. Spaulding has worked in the executive branch in Republican and Democratic administrations and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. She was general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and minority staff director for the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was assistant general counsel and the legal adviser to the director’s Nonproliferation Center. She was executive director of two congressionally created commissions, on weapons of mass destruction and on terrorism. Following the attacks of 9/11, Ms. Spaulding worked with key critical infrastructure sectors as they reviewed their security posture and advised the CEOs of the Business Roundtable. In 2002, she was appointed by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia to the Secure Commonwealth Panel to advise the governor and the legislature regarding preparedness issues. She was managing partner of the Harbour Group, a principal in the Bingham Consulting Group, and of counsel to Bingham McCutchen LLP. In addition to her work at CSIS, Ms. Spaulding currently serves on a number of corporate boards and advisory boards and is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group (HSEG).
Thomas Rid
Professor Johns Hopkins SAIS / Author, Active Measures
Thomas Rid is the founding director at the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University/SAIS.
Rid’s 2020 book, Active Measures, a sweeping history of disinformation, was translated into seven languages. His 2016 book, Rise of the Machines, tells the sweeping story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war, and was also widely translated. His 2015 article “Attributing Cyber Attacks” was designed to explain, guide, and improve the identification of network breaches. In 2013 he published the much-cited Cyber War Will Not Take Place.
Thomas Rid is the founding director at the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University/SAIS.
Rid’s 2020 book, Active Measures, a sweeping history of disinformation, was translated into seven languages. His 2016 book, Rise of the Machines, tells the sweeping story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war, and was also widely translated. His 2015 article “Attributing Cyber Attacks” was designed to explain, guide, and improve the identification of network breaches. In 2013 he published the much-cited Cyber War Will Not Take Place.
Gilman Louie
CEO and Chairman of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions
Gilman Louie is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions and a founding partner at Alsop Louie Partners. He is also the Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and a director at the Markle Foundation. He founded and formerly led In-Q-Tel, a strategic venture fund created to help enhance national security by connecting the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Intelligence community with venture-backed entrepreneurial companies.
Gilman Louie is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions and a founding partner at Alsop Louie Partners. He is also the Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and a director at the Markle Foundation. He founded and formerly led In-Q-Tel, a strategic venture fund created to help enhance national security by connecting the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Intelligence community with venture-backed entrepreneurial companies.
Jon Darby
Former Director of the Operations Directorate, NSA/CSS
Mr. Darby is a nearly 39-year veteran of the U.S. Intelligence Community, primarily in the National Security Agency (NSA)/Central Security Service (CSS), culminating in serving over four years as the NSA/CSS Director of Operations (DO). Prior to assuming the DO position, which oversees all of NSA’s collection, code-breaking, analysis and production of signals intelligence (SIGINT), he led some of NSA’s most difficult missions, including Counterterrorism, Cybersecurity Operations, and SIGINT analysis and production on all geographic and transnational missions. He managed a budget in the billions, drove development and use of advanced technologies, and in multiple positions led thousands of globally distributed civilian and military personnel providing intelligence support for military, diplomatic, cybersecurity and law enforcement operations.
Starting his career as a Russian language analyst, Mr. Darby served in a variety of field and operations management positions at NSA and abroad. He spent over a decade following 9/11 in various leadership positions in NSA’s counterterrorism and counterproliferation missions, to include serving as NSA’s Chief of Counterterrorism during the Osama bin Laden operation. Other key senior leadership assignments include serving as NSA’s Chief of SIGINT Analysis and Production and the Deputy Chief of Cybersecurity Operations.
Mr. Darby is a graduate of Carleton College, where he majored in Political Science/International Relations with a Concentration in Russian Studies.
Mr. Darby is a nearly 39-year veteran of the U.S. Intelligence Community, primarily in the National Security Agency (NSA)/Central Security Service (CSS), culminating in serving over four years as the NSA/CSS Director of Operations (DO). Prior to assuming the DO position, which oversees all of NSA’s collection, code-breaking, analysis and production of signals intelligence (SIGINT), he led some of NSA’s most difficult missions, including Counterterrorism, Cybersecurity Operations, and SIGINT analysis and production on all geographic and transnational missions. He managed a budget in the billions, drove development and use of advanced technologies, and in multiple positions led thousands of globally distributed civilian and military personnel providing intelligence support for military, diplomatic, cybersecurity and law enforcement operations.
Starting his career as a Russian language analyst, Mr. Darby served in a variety of field and operations management positions at NSA and abroad. He spent over a decade following 9/11 in various leadership positions in NSA’s counterterrorism and counterproliferation missions, to include serving as NSA’s Chief of Counterterrorism during the Osama bin Laden operation. Other key senior leadership assignments include serving as NSA’s Chief of SIGINT Analysis and Production and the Deputy Chief of Cybersecurity Operations.
Mr. Darby is a graduate of Carleton College, where he majored in Political Science/International Relations with a Concentration in Russian Studies.
Steve Hill
Deputy Group CISO, Credit Suisse
Steve Hill is Chief Information Security Officer (Head of Strategy) at Credit Suisse. He was previously CISO for the Investment Bank and Americas; global head of Operational Resilience; and head of Technology, Cyber and Third Party Risk. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2017, Hill spent over thirty years in the UK Government, including a variety of national security roles at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as deputy director, with responsibility for aspects of UK Government cyber security policy, at the National Security Secretariat of the Cabinet Office. Steve is a visiting senior research fellow at the War Studies Department of Kings College, London.
Steve Hill is Chief Information Security Officer (Head of Strategy) at Credit Suisse. He was previously CISO for the Investment Bank and Americas; global head of Operational Resilience; and head of Technology, Cyber and Third Party Risk. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2017, Hill spent over thirty years in the UK Government, including a variety of national security roles at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as deputy director, with responsibility for aspects of UK Government cyber security policy, at the National Security Secretariat of the Cabinet Office. Steve is a visiting senior research fellow at the War Studies Department of Kings College, London.
Geoff Brown
VP of Global Intelligence Platforms, Recorded Future
Geoff Brown is the Vice President of Global Intelligence Platforms at Recorded Future. He is charged with driving forward a unified impact from the company’s premiere cyber threat intelligence platform for global governments and corporations, and with gathering together an intelligence council of practitioner advisors collectively interested in a safer digital world.
Prior to Recorded Future, Geoff Brown was Chief Information Security Officer for the City of New York between 2016 and 2022, a position focused on cybersecurity and aggregate information risk across all 100+ NYC departments and agencies. In July 2017, Mayor de Blasio established New York City Cyber Command, an agency led by Geoff, reporting to City Hall, and charged with consolidating and leading the City’s enterprise cybersecurity strategy, inclusive of building NYC Cyber Command itself, and through this new agency setting Citywide cybersecurity policies; directing response to cyber incidents; rationalizing the City’s cybersecurity spend and cyber defense technology footprint, and advising City Hall, agencies and departments on the City's overall cyber defense.
Geoff Brown is the Vice President of Global Intelligence Platforms at Recorded Future. He is charged with driving forward a unified impact from the company’s premiere cyber threat intelligence platform for global governments and corporations, and with gathering together an intelligence council of practitioner advisors collectively interested in a safer digital world.
Prior to Recorded Future, Geoff Brown was Chief Information Security Officer for the City of New York between 2016 and 2022, a position focused on cybersecurity and aggregate information risk across all 100+ NYC departments and agencies. In July 2017, Mayor de Blasio established New York City Cyber Command, an agency led by Geoff, reporting to City Hall, and charged with consolidating and leading the City’s enterprise cybersecurity strategy, inclusive of building NYC Cyber Command itself, and through this new agency setting Citywide cybersecurity policies; directing response to cyber incidents; rationalizing the City’s cybersecurity spend and cyber defense technology footprint, and advising City Hall, agencies and departments on the City's overall cyber defense.
Dave Venable
Board of Directors, Senior Cybersecurity Fellow, Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure
Dave Venable is an experienced Chief Information Security Officer, author, mentor, public speaker, educator, patent holder, board member, and former intelligence professional with over two decades of experience in information security and risk management in both public and private sectors. In addition to providing security consulting to Global 500 companies, Venable has developed and managed several U.S. national-level projects to support global anti-terrorism operations and the Global War on Terror. He has taught cybersecurity and cryptography courses at Southern Methodist University and the National Cryptologic School.
Venable is a regular keynote speaker and author on information security, and has been recognized with several awards from the U.S. Air Force and the National Security Agency. He was named one of the most influential people in cyber security by Security Magazine.
Dave Venable is an experienced Chief Information Security Officer, author, mentor, public speaker, educator, patent holder, board member, and former intelligence professional with over two decades of experience in information security and risk management in both public and private sectors. In addition to providing security consulting to Global 500 companies, Venable has developed and managed several U.S. national-level projects to support global anti-terrorism operations and the Global War on Terror. He has taught cybersecurity and cryptography courses at Southern Methodist University and the National Cryptologic School.
Venable is a regular keynote speaker and author on information security, and has been recognized with several awards from the U.S. Air Force and the National Security Agency. He was named one of the most influential people in cyber security by Security Magazine.
Frank Cilluffo
Director of McCrary Institute for Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Security, Auburn University
Frank J. Cilluffo serves as Director of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Security. He has decades of national and homeland security experience derived from working inside and outside government including serving as a Special Assistant for Homeland Security to President Bush in the White House, immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the US. He recently served as a commissioner on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission and chaired a handful of committees for the Homeland Security Advisory Council on economic security, cybersecurity and counterterrorism. He has testified before Congress dozens of times and has published extensively in major media.
Frank J. Cilluffo serves as Director of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Security. He has decades of national and homeland security experience derived from working inside and outside government including serving as a Special Assistant for Homeland Security to President Bush in the White House, immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the US. He recently served as a commissioner on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission and chaired a handful of committees for the Homeland Security Advisory Council on economic security, cybersecurity and counterterrorism. He has testified before Congress dozens of times and has published extensively in major media.
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