Alumni Spotlight: Greene Discusses Cyber Policy with Pardee Students
Jeffrey Greene (Pardee ’90), acting Senior Director for Cyber Defense for the National Security Council (NSC), recently joined students to discuss cyber policy issues in a Pardee School seminar – Intelligence and Homeland Security (IR 516) – taught by John Woodward, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
Greene started his talk by summarizing his career trajectory, explaining that when he was a BU student studying the Soviet Union, he never had any idea that he would one day be helping to make cyber policy. He worked in a bicycle shop immediately after graduation, went to law school, and worked for several years at a Washington, D.C. law firm, where he did investigations and litigation. A friend gave him a lead to a position on Capitol Hill, where he eventually worked for both the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, handling the early “cyber” portfolio. It was then that he realized he found his calling.
From the Hill, Jeff became the Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Policy at Symantec, a U.S. company specializing in cybersecurity software. He then served at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as the Director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a collaborative hub where industry, government, and academic institutions work together to identify and help solve pressing cybersecurity issues. In light of his expertise, the NSC requested that Jeff be assigned to his current position earlier this year.
In his remarks, Jeff emphasized that U.S. cyber policy is improving but that cyber threats are quickly evolving as well. He stressed that “cyber knows no borders,” hence the U.S. government must not only work collaboratively with public and private partners but work international partners as well. In terms of future challenges, he predicted that 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing will all have huge impacts in the cyber domain.
Commenting on Mr. Greene’s talk, Michelle Kaplun (Pardee ’21) described it as “a timely presentation on the most pressing and pertinent cybersecurity issues facing the United States today. He spoke of the dichotomy between maintaining both a capable cyber defense and offense, which I found especially interesting.”