Federal 100: Sonya Smith

Sonya Smith
Deputy Director for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure
Navy Department

Smith was the Navy’s lead in working with the Defense Department’s staff to develop the Cyber, Identity and Information Assurance Strategy and associated campaign plan. That role went beyond her regular responsibilities of coordinating information assurance, privacy and critical infrastructure protection for the Navy and Marine Corps.

Her leadership on infrastructure and data protection extends beyond DOD to other federal government and private industry systems, such as electronic medical records.

“If you don’t do this right, you can break things,” said Robert Carey, the Navy Department’s chief information officer. “So her ability to communicate to people above her what the problems would be in doing things a certain way — and by the way, here’s how to do it better — has been vital.”

Read more about the 2010 Federal 100 award winners.