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Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 10/25/04 issue

IT security is the industry’s burden

By William Jackson, GCN Staff

Paul Kurtz heads the Cyber Security Industry Alliance of Washington. But he spent most of his career at the State Department, where he began as an intern in 1986.

He worked at several bureaus, specializing in nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and in strategic arms control. Kurtz also served on arms control inspection teams in Iraq and North Korea before moving to the National Security Council in 1999. There he was director for counterterrorism in the Office of Transnational Threats.

As a member of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, Kurtz helped develop the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. He joined the White House’s Homeland Security Council in 2003 and most recently was special assistant to the president and senior director for critical infrastructure protection.

Kurtz has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Holy Cross College and a master’s in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Kurtz spoke to GCN senior editor William Jackson.

GCN: Why did you leave government for the private sector?

KURTZ: All told, I had about 18 years in the government. I started in 1986 and finished up with four years at the White House, working under both presidents Clinton and Bush. It was a tremendous experience working on counterterrorism, critical infrastructure protection and cybersecurity.

I got to the point that I felt I could make more of a contribution on cybersecurity in the private sector. The executives who asked me to lead the Cyber Security Industry Alliance are thoughtful, strong-willed people who want to make a difference.

The other half is that working counterterrorism for four years at the White House takes a toll—being available by beeper or phone 24 hours a day and always wondering what’s going to blow up under you.

GCN: What was the most positive thing you brought away from government service?

KURTZ: Working on the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, which came into being shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and was the precursor of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

More news on related topics: IT Management, IT Security