Patrick Howard
Chief Information Security Officer, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Chief Information Security Officer, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Patrick D. Howard is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Rockville, Maryland. In this capacity he is responsible for overseeing the agency-wide cyber security program, which the Office of Management and Budget assigned the fourth highest compliance score among the 24 largest government agencies for FY2011. Mr. Howard has announced his retirement from the federal government and will become the CISO for the National Science Foundation’s U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) in Centennial, Colorado beginning in March 2012. Mr. Howard also served as the CISO at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2005-2008, where he led HUD to a first ever "A+" score on Congress' 2006 Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Report Card and was recognized as a 2007 Fed 100 winner for his accomplishments in government IT. Mr. Howard is co-author of the Total CISSP Exam Prep Book, and authored Building and Implementing a Security Certification and Accreditation Program and FISMA Principles and Best Practices: Beyond Compliance. He has over 35 years of experience in the security industry, and has worked in the computer security field for the past 18 years. Mr. Howard received a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Boston University. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and a Certified Information Security Manager. He is a member of the American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council (ACT/IAC) Cyber Security Shared Interest Group Government Advisory Panel and the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium’s Government Advisory Board and Executive Writer’s Bureau, which he chairs. Mr. Howard is also an adjunct professor of Information Assurance at Walsh College, Troy Michigan. He and his wife Annemarie reside in Havre de Grace, Maryland.