Page 50 - FCW, October 2017

presidential transition, Rosenthal said.
For the first time, outgoing political appointees’ social media accounts had to be retired and new ones created for incoming staff
to use on Day One of the Trump administration.
There were no established procedures for the digital side of a presidential transition, so “we kind of had to make a precedent,” Larrimore said.
“The goal for us as communication professionals was making sure whoever comes in has the tools to communicate whatever it is they want to \[convey\],” she added. “That really results in good government because what you want is people communicating.”
She also created guidelines
for future transitions, keeping transparency in mind. And because agencies across the government were encountering the same issues, she brought together colleagues to discuss their challenges and worked directly with Twitter and Facebook to ease the transition.
“What’s important to me is
how we can make things better across the federal government,” Larrimore said. “The idea of sharing innovation so other people can say, ‘That’s a good idea, I’m going to top that now,’ is very important to me.”
— Chase Gunter
Lt. Col. Michael I. Maharaj
Chief, Cyber Integration, Joint Staff J6, Directorate for Cyber and C4 Integration
Department of Defense
Given the ongoing increase in persistent threats and the complex demands of cybersecurity, cyber professionals are often overwhelmed. That’s why Lt. Col. Michael Maharaj’s leadership of the Bold Quest for Multinational Defensive Cyberspace Operations is noteworthy.
“They’re over-extended, and he was able to convince them that they could hone their skills with multinational partners,” said Randy Coonts, branch chief for the Joint Staff J6-C4, Cyber Integration.
MNDCO is a new effort that aims to promote cyber freedom among multiple nations and provides capabilities aligned with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Federated Mission Networking and U.S. Mission Partner Environment priorities.
By tapping multinational partners, Maharaj was able to measure
the effects of cyberthreats, the performance of tools used to detect and prevent them, and how critical network systems were protected.
“Being able to pull this together... was above and beyond his normal duties” as the Joint Staff J6’s chief cyber integrator, Coonts said. “We gave him this task, \[and\] he took ownership and pulled this team together on his own.”
— Lauren C. Williams
Maria McClelland
Technical Senior Staff Member, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Department of Energy
Providing cybersecurity and computer support for some of the world’s top nuclear scientists would be a little intimidating for most people, but not for Maria McClelland.
As team leader for the Cyber Security Operations Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she thrives in the technically daunting and fast-moving environment at the science and energy research facility, where she focuses on
the lab’s computer and network operations.
“McClelland’s drive for partnership, camaraderie and relentless focus on continuous improvement enable delivery of best-in-class cyber capabilities in support of ORNL’s mission,” Deputy CIO Kris Torgerson said.
Among other activities, McClelland assembled a team of seven analysts and two students who developed and deployed a tiered model for assessing and resolving cyber alerts and computing issues at Oak Ridge. She also deployed a ticketing system that uses consistent terminology so that researchers’ data can be mined for future use, and she worked with the lab’s Cyber and Information Security Research Group to address gaps in commercial tools that needed lab- specific fixes.
Along the way, she adopted open-source tools as a lower-cost alternative to commercial offerings
30 October 2017
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