Command meets with industry for collective discussion on cyber security

In its continued effort to be at the leading edge of information management, U.S. Transportation Command brought together business and government leaders last week for the first session of an Industry Chief Information Officer Forum.

According to Air Force Brig. Gen. Gregory J. Touhill, chief information officer and director, Command, Control, Communications and Cyber Systems, USTRANSCOM, the goal of the forum is "to achieve a better understanding of the complex and diverse challenges CIO's face in the public and private sectors today, discuss common solutions and opportunities, dialogue with our key commercial partners, and discuss cyber threats and mitigation techniques."

On Thursday, Nov. 15, approximately 80 attendees from the government, defense, transportation and information industries discussed this session's topic: cyber security.

"Cyber security is a business imperative," said Touhill. "Our commercial partners are protecting the people and assets USTRANSCOM moves. Information has an intrinsic value and we need due diligence with it."

The session was structured to be interactive, and was often characterized as a "meeting of the neighborhood watch". Members were invited to raise awareness of the latest things they were seeing and share best practices. "The bottom line is we're posturing ourselves for the future to take better care of national security," said Touhill.

Forum speakers included Umesh Vemuri, head of enterprise engineering, Google Federal; Lewis Shepherd, director, Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments; and multiple individuals from Defense Security Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Plans are underway to bring the group together in the future to talk about additional topics of mutual interest. If you would like more information, contact Raymond Keith at USTRANSCOM.

-USTRANSCOM-