John Streufert, leader of federal continuous monitoring effort, to leave government

Technology

John Streufert, leader of federal continuous monitoring effort, to leave government

John Streufert, the director of federal network resilience, has announced he will be moving on from the Homeland Security Department after more than three years.

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

February 11, 2015 9:02 am

3 min read

John Streufert, the brains and energy behind the government’s move to continuous monitoring of government networks, announced he is leaving government.

Multiple sources confirm Streufert, the director of federal network resilience at the Homeland Security Department, will step down after more than three years at DHS and more than 25 years in government.

“As the exact timing of John’s transition is still being worked out (we are not planning his retirement party yet!), he will remain FNR Director until a new Deputy Director on-boards (an individual has been selected but the HR process is not yet complete.) After the Deputy Director of FNR position is filled and the leadership transition is complete, at which point John will join me as a Senior Advisor assisting me on several special projects to support the NPPD mission,” said Andy Ozment, DHS Assistant Secretary for cybersecurity and communications in an email to staff obtained by Federal News Radio. “John’s announcement of his planned retirement coincided with passage of FISMA reform in the last Congress, which, as you know, gave CS&C more robust authorities to measure, motivate, and guide federal cybersecurity. In discussions with the leadership team, John, and Danny Toler, we considered how to best apply our outstanding team and structure our organization given our new authorities and a pending leadership transition in FNR. Out of these discussions, we identified two clear goals: First, ensure that FNR has the mandate and resources to successfully execute its mission under FISMA reform, and second, centralize CS&C’s engineering and procurement functions within NSD.”

In addition to Streufert leaving, Ozment announced a reorganization of CS&C.

He wrote in the email that the two Federal Network Resilience branches will move to the National Security Deployment. He said the requirements and acquisition support (RAS) and network and infrastructure security(NIS) will merge into the new organization.

He also said the other three FNR branches — Cybersecurity Assurance Branch (CAB), Cybersecurity Performance Management (CPM), and Integrated Cyber Services (ICS) — will implement the essential mission of FNR provide by FISMA 2014.

“This transition is intended to allow FNR and NSD to work even more closely together. Indeed, moving the RAS and NIS branches into NSD will allow many of our incredible engineers to work together in one organization and our expert acquisition specialists to collaborate more easily,” Ozment said. “Further, this transition will ensure that CDM, National Cybersecurity Protection System, and our future cybersecurity acquisition and engineering activities are strategically and operationally integrated. Finally, FNR will focus intently on our collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the CIO Council, and individual agency Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to improve federal civilian cybersecurity. This is one of my personal priorities and a preeminent focus of our organization, and was entrusted to us by Congress in FISMA 2014.”

Streufert becomes the second senior DHS cyber executive to leave government in the last two weeks. Bobbie Stempfley, the DHS deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity strategy and emergency communications, announced at the end of January that she is leaving government to work at Mitre.

Streufert came to DHS in Jan. 2012 from the State Department to expand on the success of the agency’s continuous diagnostics and mitigation program.

DHS received several hundred million dollars from Congress to implement the CDM program. It awarded a $6 billion contract in 2013 and is currently is in Phase 1 and moving into Phase 2 this year.

Streufert said in October 98 percent of the civilian agencies have signed up to take part in the program, and task order 2 of Phase 1 should be awarded shortly. Task order 2 includes both products and services, such as planning, program management, training and engineering and architecture.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Streufert began his federal career in 1989 with the Navy Sea Systems Command, worked at the Agriculture Department and for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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