Winner of Inaugural Government Information Security Leadership Award Named

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2, the non-profit leader in its 15th year of educating, qualifying and certifying information security professionals worldwide, recently announced that Sandra Smith, the lead for Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) Workforce Management for the Department of the Navy's Chief Information Officer (CIO), will receive the first annual (ISC)2 Government Information Security Leadership Award. The honor is given to a federal executive who makes significant contributions to the improvement of the federal information technology security workforce.

(ISC)2 recognized Ms. Smith for her vision, leadership, organizational skills and drive in overseeing the strategies, policies and tasks that enable effective information security for both the Navy-Marine Corps team and the Department of Defense (DoD) and help sustain the required competencies and capabilities of the workforce to meet current and emerging requirements. Ms. Smith, who has worked for the federal government for over 20 years, holds a Master of Science degree in technology management and a CIO certificate. In addition to today's (ISC)2 recognition, Ms. Smith also received the prestigious Federal CIO Council's Leadership Award in 2004.

Charged with responsibility for shaping the Department of the Navy's IT workforce of the future, Ms. Smith has successfully undertaken a top priority for both the DoD and the Department of the Navy to create the official policy document and directive dealing with information assurance (IA) management. For this venture, she helped draft and gain approval for a DoD directive titled "Information Assurance Training, Certification and Workforce Management" and made significant contributions to shaping the directive's oversight and policy for the DoD IA workforce community. She also played a key role in drafting the accompanying manual that will provide senior management with the clear policies, procedures, standards, metrics and reporting requirements needed to effectively identify and manage the DoD IA workforce.

"(ISC)2 is proud that its first Government Information Security Leadership Award is being presented to such a highly respected and distinguished federal executive as Sandra Smith," said James E. Duffy, CISSP, president and chief executive officer of (ISC)2. "She has demonstrated the level of understanding of the IA workforce needed to effectively build consensus across numerous agencies, implement the necessary strategies and policies and prioritize limited resources in order to enable workforce development to stay focused on the most critical security areas. Ms. Smith clearly provides the Navy, Marine Corps, the DoD and the federal government with extraordinary leadership, dedication and innovation, and we are pleased to acknowledge her achievements."

(ISC)2 will also give special recognition to Richard Clapper, project manager of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Information Technology Security Awareness and Training Center at NASA Glenn Research Center. A human resources and training specialist, Mr. Clapper has been instrumental in overseeing the development of the agency-wide IT security education program for the entire NASA workforce.

The inaugural (ISC)2 Government Information Security Leadership Award and the Honor for Special Recognition will be presented at an award reception held on December 1, 2004, at 4 p.m. in the Atrium Hall during the E-Gov Information Assurance and Homeland Security Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C.