James Howard, Mba, Msia, Issap, Cissp Email & Phone Number

Huntsville, Alabama, US

Huntsville, AL, US

Responsible for all facets of the Army RMF Authorization process for Headquarters AMCOM systems and subordinate command systems. These duties include eMASS management (POA&M creation and management, Asset Manager, system details, security plans, artifact creation and analysis), vulnerability assessment of AMCOM systems, creation of policy and procedure.

Huntsville, AL, US

Managed daily Cyber Security Division (CSD) operations, to include RMF support for all AMC subordinate commands, assigning work orders to CSD analysts, and providing guidance and direction in-person, via email and/or phone. Increased responsiveness rate by over 50%.

Huntsville, AL, US

• Certification Authority Representative (CAR) Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Army G6/CIO Senior Information Assurance Officer (SIAO). As an Army CAR directly interface with Army IAPM’s, System Owners, DAAs and Army.
• Evaluate risk of all Army IT conduct Risk Assessment and residual risk to mission and network
• Prepares formal Memorandums for Army SIAO to General Office and SES level leaders detailing risk acceptance
• Perform as Army SME for IT risk
• Provide IA support that include providing C&A management, C&A technical and independent verification and validation (IV&V) support to networks/enclaves and systems/platforms information technology (PITs), C&A.
• Provide assistance to enclave and IA Program Manager (IAPM) personnel in completing required C&A documentation, addressing Security Test and Evaluation (ST&E) results, and assisting enclave personnel in preparing.

Bethesda, MD, US

• While with the 844th Communications Group (844 CG)/Air Force District of Washington (AFDW), I was progressively promoted from Security Engineer to Information Assurance Officer (similar to ISSO) and ultimately.
• I implemented a cost-saving, standards-based risk assessment process for assessing new technologies for use in the AFDW; at its peak, this team was assessing nearly 500 products annually
• I led multiple successful C&A efforts while helping to maintain the effectiveness of the Information Assurance office despite downsizing and increased threat activity.
• In the last year, I overhauled both the Computer Network Defense (CND) & Incident Response (IR) processes
• I expanded the scope of the Vulnerability Management (VM) team while implementing better scanning and IT maintenance practices to align with new Air Force VM frameworks
• I also oversaw the Information Assurance training and education program, which helped lower internal incidents while “hardening the human” against social engineering threatsFinally, I served as the resident Information.

Falls Church, Virginia, US

• Promoted to Information Assurance Manager for the 844th Communications Group/Air Force District of Washington
• With this promotion I led all certification and accreditation activities for the 844 CG, to include two classified and two unclassified networks, primarily using eMASS
• Advised other USAF components on their C&A requirements and assisted with their C&A activities.
• Led FISMA reporting
• During this time, the 844th was 100% compliant for all of our C&A activities

Falls Church, Virginia, US

• Implemented software and hardware risk assessment process
• Assisted in aligning 844th Information Assurance office with USAF directives and led DIACAP C&A efforts
• Helped the 844th IAM lead transition from DITSCAP to DIACAP
• Integrated repeatable, published, standards-based Information Assurance processes into multiple mission areas, including engineering, systems administration, change management and project management

Reston, Virginia, US

• Served as Senior IA Engineer for the 844th Communications Squadron (CS), Headquarters Air Force IA Team
• Reviewed, designed and engineered solutions to improve IA posture for various mission-critical systems
• Evaluated and engineered processes and procedures for system administration, systems engineering and network security staff to ensure confidentiality and integrity of operations based on Department of Defense (DOD).
• Evaluated and mitigated vulnerabilities detected with tools such as eEye Retina, DISA Gold Disk
• Successfully evaluated, investigated and completed twelve POA&Ms for the unclassified and classified networks. Evaluated POA&Ms against DOD 8500 series and various NIST and FIPS documents, including FIPS 140-1 and 140-2
• All POA&Ms were completed ahead of schedule, resulting in the issuance of the first ever DIACAP Authority to Operate for the Headquarters Air Force network

Reston, Virginia, US

• Designed and maintained a DR plan with particular focus on LAN and Wintel environmentsImplemented 'Best Practices' based on NIST 800-34 and the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII)
• Coordinated disaster recovery plan with a Commercial Recovery Facility (CRF), keeping abreast of pertinent changes and contingencies; designed and coordinated twice-yearly (semi-annual) recovery exercises to validate.
• Twice yearly, coordinated recovery operations during planned DR exercises, with particular focus on LAN/Wintel recovery from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Data Center (NDC) to the Wintel environment.
• Liaised with other Office of Information Technology (OIT) groups in order to plan, coordinate and execute Semi-Annual DR exercise

Herndon, Virginia, US

• Provided third-level network engineering support to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division's Justice Consolidated Office Network’s (JCON) server, LAN/MAN/WAN and desktop infrastructure
• Prepared and coordinated server and network migration to JCON IIa Windows 2003 Active Directory from Windows NT 4.0; Built and deployed Dell PowerEdge Servers in support of the migration
• Provided feeding and care of Dell Windows Servers (NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003)
• Repaired and reconfigured defective Dell Remote Assistant Card (DRAC) Out-of-Band network, allowing faster, remote response to server issues
• Resolve escalated support issues from Level I Helpdesk and Level II System Administrators
• Provide third-level end-user support for 3,000 users

US

• Provided network consulting and application support to 1500 clients and hospital networks; provided consultations to clients to establish an optimal network environment for SoftMed applications
• Engineered Windows Security Templates for optimal SoftMed application functionality. Escalated and conferred with Microsoft and Novell support engineers
• Created product documentation for SoftMed website
• Produced White Papers and wrote policy papers on technical and hospital-relevant security issues
• Independently developed training materials for topics ranging from proprietary software solutions to wireless networking
• Analyzed application error logs and design solutions to correct identified issues, increasing customer productivity

US

• Primary customers: Ford Motor Company, Ford UK, Dealtime.com and Novartis Pharmaceutical A.G
• Managed, maintained and supported 500 High-Availability Compaq Web Servers running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and 40 Sun Solaris Web Servers
• Proactively identified client needs with ongoing capacity planning analysis, site architecture design and site optimization
• Performed website analysis and reporting using emerging tools
• Worked closely with customers to facilitate business needs and website growth strategies
• Coordinated and planned new website launches

Plano, TX, US

We should all have had an opportunity to work a job like this! While with Quadramed (formerly Compucare), I performed desktop engineering, desktop support, server engineering and administration, backup administration, network (Cisco) engineering and even a little bit of development on a daily basis for 300 developers and support staff. Came in early.

Executive Mba, Business Administration And Management, General

Master Of Science, Information Assurance

Bachelor Of Science, Dietetics

Education record