At a time when investigations into Russian hacking and data breaches are making daily headlines, the Cazenovia Forum will kick off its 11th season by hosting former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, who will offer his perspectives on what’s going on in the world of digital espionage.
McConnell’s presentation, “Global Intelligence and Threats to our Nation’s Cyber Security,” will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, April 28, in the ballroom of the Hampton Inn, located on Route 20 east of the Cazenovia village center.
Admission is free, no reservations are required and audience members are invited to stay for a reception following the program.
McConnell, a retired naval vice admiral, was appointed by President George W. Bush as the nation’s second Director of National Intelligence, a cabinet-level post created by Congress in 2004 to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies, direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program and serve as an advisor to the President, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council regarding intelligence matters related to national security.
McConnell is currently a senior executive advisor at the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which he first joined in 1996 upon retiring from the Navy and where he later served for a time as the firm’s vice chairman. While there, he led the development of the firm’s information assurance business and intelligence business focused on policy, transformation, homeland security and intelligence analytics, rising to the position of senior vice president.
Upon being asked by President George W. Bush in 2007 to serve as the DNI, McConnell left Booz Allen and served for two years under Presidents Bush and Obama. As the DNI, he managed the expansive national intelligence community — an organization of over 100,000 people, and an annual global enterprise budget of more than $47 billion — and had extensive interactions with the White House, the president’s Cabinet, Congress, international leaders and the U.S. business community.
McConnell’s career has spanned more than 40 years focused on international development and foreign intelligence issues. His 29-year distinguished career as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer included significant assignments that impacted national security issues. During Desert Shield/Storm and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he served as the intelligence officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell and the Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
From 1992 to 1996 he served as the director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. As DIRNSA, he led the agency during a critical period as it adapted to the multi-polar threats brought about by the end of the Cold War, providing global intelligence and information security services to the White House, Cabinet officials, Congress and a broad array of military and civil intelligence customers. During the same period, he also served as a member of the director of central intelligence’s senior national intelligence leadership team, which addressed major programmatic and substantive foreign intelligence issues.
In addition to having been awarded many of the nation’s highest military awards for meritorious service, McConnell has twice received the nation’s highest award for service in the intelligence community, once by President Clinton and once by President George W. Bush.
McConnell holds an M.P.A. from The George Washington University, is a graduate of the National Defense University (global telecommunications), the National Defense Intelligence College (strategic intelligence), and holds a B.A. in economics from Furman University. In addition to being a member of Phi Beta Kappa, he has also been awarded three honorary doctorate degrees — the most recent from The George Washington University in 2008.
Introducing McConnell at the event will be Admiral Edmund Giambastiani (retired), a Canastota native and career submarine and flag officer who served as Seventh Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command.
For more information, visit cazenoviaforum.com.
