Grant Schneider named federal CISO

A year and a half into the Trump administration, Grant Schneider can remove the “acting” label from his title.

Schneider, who has served as acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer since January 2017, has been tapped for the role on a full-time basis, the White House announced July 19. The job is housed at the Office of Management and Budget.

Schneider is just the second individual to hold the federal CISO job, which was created under the Obama administration's Cybersecurity National Action Plan. Former Department of Homeland Security official and Air Force brigadier general Greg Touhill was the first federal CISO. Schneider served as Touhill's deputy.

Despite his acting label, Schneider is one of the longest tenured and influential cybersecurity officials in the Trump administration. In addition to his role as CISO, he serves as a member of the National Security Council and leads the Vulnerabilities Equities Process, the interagency board charged with determining whether the federal government reveals a cybersecurity vulnerability to the broader public or keeps it secret for exploitation by intelligence agencies.

In a statement announcing the move, Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at OMB, said Schneider "will play a key role in making sure the federal government's technology networks are safe and secure."

Before taking over as acting CISO, Schneider, a Fed 100 Winner in 2016, served as a cybersecurity advisor to former Federal CIO Tony Scott, where he helped stand up an E-Gov Cyber and National Security Unit at OMB. Prior to that, he spent seven years as CIO for the Defense Intelligence Agency.