Dr. Cynthia Sutherland was appointed as the first Senior Executive Service (SES)-level Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at FEMA in June 2020. As CISO, she provides executive leadership and direction for FEMA’s cybersecurity services: Cybersecurity Policy, Planning, and Training; Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM); Cyber Engineering; Cyber Assessment; Compliance; Risk Management; and Security Operations.
Prior to joining FEMA, Dr. Sutherland served as the Deputy of Cyberspace Division and CISO for the Department of Defense’s Joint Staff as the primary advisor to Joint Staff and Combatant Commands for integrating cybersecurity into warfighter systems and military tactical networks. Her specialty areas included topics such as Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Industrial Control Systems, and Supply Chain Risk Management. She also served as the Global Chair and U.S. Representative to the Multinational Security Accreditation Board for secure interoperability between DoD and foreign partners plus the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Before her civilian work with DoD, Dr. Sutherland served as a Telecommunications Specialist for the Army National Guard, with an active duty tour to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom. She earned numerous awards to include Army Achievement Medals, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal.
Dr. Sutherland holds a Doctor of Science in Cybersecurity, Master of Science in Network Security, and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management. She also contributed to the cybersecurity industry through her published work, Case Study: Integration of Cybersecurity Content into Juris Doctor Curriculum – Creation of the Cybercrime Prosecutor.