The Threat is Real

Sherri Ramsay
Director, NSA/CSS Threat Operations Center

10:00am Friday 22 April 2011, 229 ITE

Sherri Ramsay, the Director of the National Security Agency's National Threat Operations Center, will present an overview of contemporary issues in cybersecurity entitled "The Threat is Real". The NSA Threat Operations Center monitors the operations of the global network to identify network-based threats and protect U.S. and allied networks.

Sherri Ramsay serves as the Director of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Threat Operations Center, an organization operating under Signals Intelligence and Information Assurance authorities simultaneously to establish real-time global network awareness and threat characterization. Ms. Ramsay most recently served in the Information Assurance Directorate as Deputy Chief of the Vulnerability Analysis and Operations Group. She began her career at NSA as a computer programmer and served as a Software Acquisition Manager, System Acquisition Manager, and Program Manager for several large-scale programs. She spend a year of extensive leadership training, research and developmental assignments while participating in OPM’s Executive Potential Program.

Ms. Ramsay graduated Magna Cum Laude with General Honors from the University of Georgia in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Mathematics and Education. She graduated with Honors from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984 with a Masters Degree in Computer Science. In 1992, she graduated from OPM’s Executive Potential Program. She graduated in 1998 form the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, Ft. McNair, with a Mater’s Degree in National Resource Strategy. Prior to joining NSA, Ms. Ramsay taught high school mathematics. She received the NSA Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1998 and 2000, the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation in 1998, the Louis Tordella Award in 2003, and the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award in 2009.

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The new movie Source Code ( Rotten Tomatoes rated: 90%) features  a train-wreck that is repeated over and over while the hero looks to save innocent victims.

In Washington last week an economic train wreck was avoided when a suicidal government shutdown was avoided.

But for those of you who enjoy the anticipation of train-wrecks, there is more fun to come!

The current approved budget only lasts us only till September!

And if the previews are accurate, this next round of negotiations should be just as contentious, if not more, than the last.

True, the economy is gradually recovering.   Statistics show output is increasing, and job creation has risen for each of the last 3 months.

But the national debt is still a staggering 14 trillion dollars (That’s trillion with a “T”).

Battling this deficit is the new obsession in Washington.

Obama’s proposed his budget for the 2012 fiscal year a few months ago. You can view it here

Some of the highlights (and major points of conflict for the Republican camp)

• cut  $4 trillion over the next 12 years from the total deficit (Not enough for the G.O.P)
• A call to raise the US’s debt ceiling, which is currently at $14.3 trillion (absurd to the G.O.P)
• Reforms to Medicaid and Medicare that will result in spending reductions (Not enough for the G.O.P)
• Ending tax breaks for the rich (those with annual earnings higher than $250,000) to increase revenue  (Anathema to the G.O.P)

Meanwhile, Republicans have their own plan.

Named “The Path to Prosperity”, it entails a $6.2 trillion reduction in the total national debt.

That proposal was passed in the House today.

Is another economic train wreck in the making? Rotten Tomatoes will likely rate those chances at 100%.

FTP, the File Transfer Protocol, is forty years old today. rfc114, the request for comments that defined the original FTP protocol, was published on April 16, 1971. FTP is one of the oldest Internet standards and remains important today, mostly through its descendants, like SFTP.