Federal IT Security Alignment: Navy CIO Robert Carey

Information Security is among the top priorities for departmental and agency chief information officers, and no one knows that better than Navy CIO Robert Carey, who carries the double duty of co-chairing the federal CIO Council's Committee on Information Security and Identity Management. In this first of two parts of an exclusive interview, Carey discusses: Information security initiatives being tackled by the CIO Council panel he co-chairs with Justice Department CIO Vance Hitch; How the Federal Information Security Management Act benefited government IT security; and Why he feels there's no need for a separate Chief Information Security Officer Council. Carey joined the Navy's Office of CIO in 2000, regularly being elevated from e-business team leader, to director of the Smart Card Office, to deputy CIO for policy and integration to CIO. Previously, Carey served in a variety of engineering and program management leadership positions within the Navy's acquisition community in the undersea warfare domain. A 1982 graduate of the University of South Carolina with a BS in engineering, Carey earned a master of engineering management degree from George Washington University in 1995. As an active member of the Naval Reserve, he holds the rank of commander in the Civil Engineer Corps, Carey was recalled to duty for Operation Desert Storm and more recently as part of a Marine expeditionary force in Iraq's Al Anbar province.