AMRDEC lead awarded "Excellence in Cyber Management"

By Nikki Ficken, AMRDEC Public AffairsJuly 14, 2017

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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- A U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center engineer was recognized at the National Cyber Summit held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama in June 2017.

Tom Barnett, cyber technology lead at AMRDEC, received the "Excellence in Cyber Management" award for his contributions to the Center's cybersecurity program as well as competency development and outreach to the Team Redstone community.

In the past three years, Barnett has led and executed a new AMRDEC scientific research program in cybersecurity and the interrelated area of Supply Chain Risk Management, or SCRM. The objective of the program is to develop new scientific knowledge that will enable the U.S. to respond more rapidly and more effectively to current and future cybersecurity and SCRM threats.

"After 30 years with AMRDEC, I decided to do something new," Barnett said. "Formerly, I was a weapon systems engineer but cyber was the up and coming field, so I decided to go for it. I was humbled and proud that the work we're doing at AMRDEC is recognized in the community."

Barnett led the effort working closely with intellectual leaders in the U.S. Army, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations in cybersecurity and SCRM to obtain input and direction for the program.

According to his nomination packet from AMRDEC leadership, Barnett is credited with "creative out-of-the-box outreach to nationally recognized intellectual leaders. Barnett formulated a comprehensive and balanced program that addresses the most challenging cybersecurity technical issues facing Army missile systems and networks."

"What we are learning is there is a very important, cyber-related aspect to our aviation and missile mission," said Barnett. "We don't need to think of cyber as a new idea, but really a new threat to our weapon systems that we produce."

Barnett has conducted a number of efforts within AMRDEC to educate the workforce on cyber threats to Army missile systems. In April 2017, AMRDEC hosted a Logistics Engineering workshop titled, "Cybersecurity from a Sustainment Perspective" for the Arsenal. Barnett was one of the presenters for the workshop.

In the past several years, cyber has become a major focal point in the Redstone and Huntsville Community. The mayor of Huntsville, Tommy Battle has even declared cyber as one of his top initiatives while in office. In 2010, Battle announced the beginning of Cyber Huntsville, the main sponsor of the annual National Cyber Summit.

"The cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges our nation faces," said National Cyber Summit Chair, Rodney Robertson. "Cybersecurity affects nearly every aspect of our lives -- critical infrastructure, banking, healthcare, transportation and more. Our nation's economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on how well we manage cybersecurity."

The National Cyber Summit is a national event for cyber training, education and workforce development aimed at protecting the nation's infrastructure from the ever-evolving cyber threat. The summit attracts commercial and defense companies as well as healthcare, automotive and energy industries.

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U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities for decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the Joint Warfighter and the Nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Related Links:

Army.mil: Science and Technology News

U.S. Army Materiel Command

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center

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