Larry Prior: ExecutiveBiz Exclusive Interview

Here’s a re-cap of a few executive transitions since early June: Larry Prior moved to ManTech, Walt Havenstein moved to SAIC, and Tony Zinni moved to BAE.  In his first interview since taking office, Larry Prior talked about his top priorities and how he’s furthering ManTech’s position as an ‘essential partner’ in cyber and national security. Here are some

highlights:

• “Systems engineering and technical assistance as well as mission support, for example, require lots of experience and core technical talent. That's a great opportunity for industry.”
• “Government needs to re-badge. It needs to bring talent in that does planning, budgeting, source selection, and acquisition management. They need to make sure, however, they can also execute on missions across every agency.”
• “Cyber is a wonderful opportunity for us to expand our business…we’re focused on several questions: How do we help defend networks that aren't in our typical space? How do we help improve network resiliency everywhere we go?“

Jim Moran on Cyber Threats

spoke with Congressman Jim Moran on the subject recently, and here are the highlights:

• “…there should always be a constructive tension between the private and public sectors.  We tipped that balance in the last few years by outsourcing inherently governmental work, in my opinion.  That's why I support Secretary Gates' effort to establish 20,000 more acquisition personnel as an example…”
• “On the whole I'd have to say there is a relatively negative attitude towards contractors and we are working every day to improve that image and to try to discourage the kinds of activities and rhetoric that underscore people's negative feelings towards contactors. It is a two way street.”
• “We need to march forward and not be intimidated by“¦ Cyber Attacks.”
• “…it behooves the IT contractors particularly to work with my office and with Gerry Connolly's and Steny Hoyer's, people who represent large IT defense workforces.  The more participation and contact we have, the better results we get for all concerned..”

Melissa Hathaway Resigns

Melissa Hathaway, Top 10 Beltway Game Changer to Watch in ’09, resigned her post as current acting Senior Director of Cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils.  Ms. Hathaway recused herself from consideration for the position of Cyber Czar two weeks ago, citing personal reasons.  She intends to continue her work in the interest of national cybersecurity in the private sector.

Hacker Conference Hacked by Spies

Jeff Moss, prominent hacker, founder of the BlackHat hacker organization, and member of the DHS advisory board on cybersecurity, hosted his annual DEFCON hacker convention in Las Vegas this week.  But when four “South Korean journalists'”  interviews did not cover normal topics for the conference, the four were escorted out of the conference. In fact, the Korean visitors were “intelligence gathering” individuals: spies. The incident comes after the July 4th distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on U.S. and South Korean government and private computer networks.

India Emerges as GovCon Market

No, this isn’t about outsourcing IT solutions to India, but rather selling DoD and military services to India. India’s defense budget for fiscal ’09-10 will increase by almost 35%, in an effort to modernize its mostly Soviet-era materiel.  India will spend over $30 billion a year on defense for the next five years, and American defense contractors are leading the charge to strengthen America’s strongest and most populous ally in South Asia:

• Raytheon has secured $82 million in contracts to modernize India’s air navigation systems
• Lockheed has completed delivery of six C-130J aircraft for $1.1 billion and is negotiating the sale of another six for $1.1 billion next year.

It seems like American money is making a round-trip, jetting to India through outsourced jobs and coming right back through defense contracting dollars (or rupees).