Circuit

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, or (ISC)2 — pronounced ISC-squared — handed out its fourth annual Government Information Security Leadership Awards last week to three federal employees.There were three categories of awards: senior information technology security manager, senior non-IT security manager and nonmanagerial IT security professional.“We’ve recognized and celebrated those leaders in the IT security community who have made a very positive impact, not only on our business and professional success but also on our safety and our national security,” said Lynn McNulty, government affairs director at (ISC)2, a nonprofit cybersecuity education and training organization.The winner of the senior IT security manager award was George Bieber, deputy director of the Defense Department’s Information Assurance Workforce Improvement Program. Bieber was recognized for leading efforts in information assurance training and certification.“Without the people behind me in DOD, none of this could happen,” he said.The senior non-IT security manager award went to John “Jack” Stoute, acting chief information officer and director of business technology optimization at the Health and Human Services Department’s Program Support Center.Dana Gordon Murray, chief information security officer at HHS, said Stoute “improved the skills and competency of the IT workforce” at the center.“I’m speaking to the choir. I don’t usually speak to the choir,” Stoute said. “But it’s important for us who don’t usually speak to the choir to continue [the message that] IT security will only continue to get more important.”Cheri Gatland-Lightner, project manager at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Chief Information Security Office, won the award for nonmanagerial IT security professional. Gatland-Lightner’s colleagues praised her ability to educate agency workers about the need for IT security and her leadership of agency efforts to improve Federal Information Security Management Act scores.The Navy will spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications on a building in Coronado, Calif. The building — when seen from the air — looks like a swastika, the Los Angeles Times reports. Of course, nobody noticed until Google Earth made satellite views accessible to the world.The four L-shaped buildings, constructed in the late 1960s, are part of the amphibious base at Coronado and serve as barracks for Seabees.The architectural cause was picked up by a Missouri-based radio talk show and discussed on the blogosphere.The Navy has budgeted $600,000 to change the look of the buildings.John Gillispie, Iowa’s chief information officer and chief operations officer, has been elected president of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO).Gillispie replaces Michigan CIO Teri Takai, who served as association president for the 2006-2007 program year.NASCIO members also elected other new officers and directors for the association.The following are the new and returning officers and directors:OfficersNew directorsThe new directors join returning Executive Committee directors Brenda Decker, CIO of Nebraska, Joe Fleckinger, CIO of Oklahoma and Steve Fletcher, CIO of Utah. The new leadership officially took over immediately following NASCIO’s state dinner held Oct. 2.