Contributing Editors

Caitlin Durkovich Caitlin Durkovich is a Director at Toffler Associates, a strategic consulting and advisory firm that architects better futures for public and private sector clients around the globe with an unwavering commitment to be the catalyst for change. A recognized expert in critical infrastructure security and resilience, including cybersecurity, Caitlin helps public and private sector clients navigate the complex operational challenges posed by an increasingly interconnected and interdependent global economy. Over the course of nearly two decades of developing physical and cyber risk management approaches, Caitlin has successfully advanced public-private partnerships that drive thought leadership, influence policy, and evolve industry practices to manage security and operational risks. Caitlin served nearly eight years in the Obama Administration, including four years as Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection with the Department of Homeland Security. She led the mission to protect critical infrastructure and redefined public-private risk management for emerging issues like complex mass attacks, electric grid security, cybersecurity, GPS resilience, and climate adaptation planning. Her experience also includes leading homeland security projects with several government agencies while at Booz Allen Hamilton and pioneering early warning cyber intelligence at iDefense (acquired by Verisign). Caitlin earned a B.A. in public policy studies from the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and a certificate in business strategy from The Aspen Institute.

Renee Forney As the Senior Director of Cyber Assurance at Capital One, Renee Forney leads the cyber governance and risk management portfolio activities in alignment with the Three Lines of Defense. This includes Third Party and Supply Chain Management, Customer Authentication, PCI and Governance and Risk. Created and executed Cyber Assurance strategies that align with regulatory guidance, industry best practices and threat intelligence to increase effective and efficient service delivery. Renee Forney is currently the CEO of the Forney Group LLC, a strategic consulting firm focusing on Enterprise Risk Management, Cyber Threat Intelligence and Cyber Workforce, as well as the Executive Managing Director of Global Cyber Security Management at Equinoxys Inc. Mrs. Forney previously served as Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for Cybersecurity and Enterprise Operations, where she was responsible for managing the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Enterprise Cybersecurity Program and IT Infrastructure; advising Departmental senior officials on integrating cybersecurity; risk management; and implementing enterprise information resources management across the DOE. Mrs. Forney provided executive-level guidance for the interagency on cybersecurity initiatives; including the White House’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan, the Defense Industrial Base Sector (for information safeguarding and critical infrastructure protection) and the NICE Interagency Coordinating Council lead by the NIST. Prior to serving as DOE, Mrs. Forney was the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Executive Director for the Cyber Skills Management Support Initiative, where she was responsible for managing cybersecurity-related projects for the Undersecretary of Management. She led a collaborative effort to design an organization to strategically address and manage DHS cybersecurity workforce issues affecting DHS Components execution of cyber mission to include USSS, TSA, CBP, USCG, ICE-HSI and NPPD. In this role, she developed the Cyber Management Support Initiative Push Button, which assists hiring managers and human resource professionals. in accurately defining job descriptions for cyber professionals. In conjunction with the Push Button initiative, her efforts were instrumental in developing legislation and the Federal Cyber Security Workforce Strategy Plan. She also spearheaded the Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative which placed cyber students in DHS field offices and Fusion centers across the country. Mrs. Forney also served as the Branch Chief for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Business Intelligence Division, where she developed innovative enterprise solutions such as the FAStoday Portal, and led the digital information efforts for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Transition Team. Mrs. Forney also held a variety of information assurance and technology roles in the private sector, including Division Program Manager for Unisys, and Senior Security Analyst for Telos. Notable accomplishments from this time include managing collaboration with the Unisys Director of Enterprise Security Initiatives, United Kingdom, and supporting the development of a security framework model for Unisys Federal. Mrs. Forney holds a Bachelor of Science from DeVry University and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from George Washington University. She also holds an honorary Doctorate Degree of Science and Technology from Champlain College. She was also named a 2016 Women of Influence by SC Magazine and ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation award winner. She is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), Shared Assessments Certified Third Party Risk Professional (CTPRP) and has held the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Phil Gurski Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. (www.borealisthreatandrisk.com) and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation. From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment (CSE – Canada’s signals intelligence agency), specialising in the Middle East. He also served as senior special advisor in the National Security Directorate at Public Safety Canada from 2013, focusing on community outreach and training on radicalisation to violence, until his retirement from the civil service in May 2015, and as consultant for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Terrorism Section (PATS) from May to October 2015. He was the Director of Security and Intelligence at the SecDev Group from June 2018 to July 2019. Mr. Gurski has presented on violent Islamist-inspired and other forms of terrorism and radicalisation across Canada and around the world. He is the author of “The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West” (Rowman and Littlefield 2015) “Western Foreign Fighters: the threat to homeland and international security” (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), The Lesser Jihads: taking the Islamist fight to the world (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), An end to the ‘war on terrorism ’ and When religion kills: how extremist justify violence through faith (Lynne Rienner 2019). He regularly blogs and podcasts (An Intelligent Look at Terrorism – available on his Web site), and tweets (@borealissaves) on terrorism. He is an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) in the Netherlands, a digital fellow at the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies at Concordia University, a member of the board at the National Capital Branch of the CIC (Canadian International Council) and an affiliate of the Canadian network for research on Terrorism Security and Society (TSAS). Mr. Gurski is a regular commentator on terrorism and radicalisation for a wide variety of Canadian and international media. He writes at www.borealisthreatandrisk.com.

Mo McGowan Mo McGowan was instrumental standing up critical components of the Transportation Security Administration serving as Assistant Administrator, Office of Security Operations; Deputy Assistant; Administrator for Operations; and General Manager, Cargo and Supply Chain Security. Currently he works as a Senior Advisor at the Command Group.

Elizabeth Neumann Elizabeth Neumann served as the Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy in the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans. She oversees Department of Homeland Security (DHS) –wide policy development and coordination for screening and vetting, terrorism prevention, counterterrorism, countering transitional criminal organizations, and other persistent and emerging threats. She was also responsible for two operational programs- Visa Waiver Program and the REAL ID Program. Ms. Neumann worked closely with other federal departments and agencies, states, and international counterparts to develop, coordinate, and implement these policies and programs. Prior to this role, Ms. Neumann served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department, where she assisted in the management of the day-to-day operations of DHS and served as a senior advisor to Secretaries Kelly and Nielsen, as well as Acting Secretary Duke. Ms. Neumann’s work in the homeland security enterprise began just prior to the founding of the DHS in 2003, where she served on the Homeland Security Council at The White House. As part of the White House’s Domestic Counterterrorism Directorate, she tracked terrorist threats and developed domestic prevention and mitigation strategies and programs. She also coordinated the development and implementation of the Federal Government’s post-9/11 terrorism information sharing strategies and policies, including the architecture through which the Federal Government shares information with state and local governments. Later, in support of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Ms. Neumann worked with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to develop the protocols for reporting suspicious activity and she developed one of the early community-based models for countering violent extremism. Over the past 15 years, she has created and implemented multiple government-wide counterterrorism policies and reforms. She has extensive experience working across multiple homeland security and national security disciplines including: intelligence, law enforcement, emergency management, preparedness, critical infrastructure security and resilience, and cybersecurity. Her expertise includes threat and risk trend analysis; assessing, developing, and executing security doctrine, strategy, policy, and plans; and optimizing organizational development to address emerging risks.

Dr. John P. Sullivan Dr. John P. Sullivan served as a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department; specializing in emergency operations, transit policing, counterterrorism and intelligence. He is an Instructor in the Safe Communities Institute (SCI) at the Sol Price School of Public Policy - University of Southern California, Global Fellow at Stratfor, Senior El Centro Fellow at Small Wars Journal, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Observatory of Transnational Criminal Networks. In addition, he is a member of The InterAgency Board for Emergency Preparedness and Response. His doctoral dissertation at the Open University of Catalonia examined the impact of transnational crime on sovereignty. His current research focus is terrorism, transnational gangs and organized crime, conflict disaster, intelligence studies, post-conflict policing, sovereignty and urban operations.