Several achievements by federal employees working in the cybersecurity field were recognized Tuesday evening as part of the 2011 Government Information Security Leadership Awards.
The annual awards program, run by consulting firm (ISC)2, recognizes individuals and teams who have significantly enhanced the information security workforce by demonstrating a leadership role in any information security workforce improvement initiative, program or project on either a governmentwide or agency-specific basis.
In the workforce improvement category, the Cyberspace 200/300 professional continuing education team at the Air Force Cyber Technical Center of Excellence, led by Dr. Harold Arata III, won the team award for its work in delivering cybersecurity professional rating courses for the Air Force Space Command. The team launched new courses in minimal time and graduated more than 600 cyber professionals in the first fiscal year.
David Knolton, chief information officer and assistant chief of staff at the Army Combined Arms Center, won the individual award for workforce improvement for his work in streamlining information security improvement projects into a single comprehensive portfolio, enhancing professional certifications, IT leadership oversight and professional development.
Other award winners included Dr. Emma Garrison-Alexander, assistant administrator for IT at the Transportation Security Administration; Shawn Wilson, senior manager of information security at Verisign; and Henry Yu, chief information security officer at NASA. Team award winners included the Cybersecurity Communications Working Group at the Homeland Security Department, the Air Force's Military Satellite Systems Directorate Information Assurance Manager Team, the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center Vulnerability Assessment Computer Network Security Team, and the Information Assurance Program Management Team with the Army's Combined Arms Center.
For more information on the 2011 GISLA winners, click here.
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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