AFCEA Hampton Roads April Luncheon

Luncheon: AFCEA Hampton Roads Chapter

Dr. Paul Harig is a highly accomplished leader and security-focused professional with over two decades of distinguished service in government, civilian, and industry roles within the Department of Defense Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Engineering, and Information Technology domains. For the past four years, Dr. Harig serves as the Director for the Office of the Navy SCA at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command; assessing cybersecurity risk for all Navy systems, circuits, and applications while ensuring risk assessment guidance and processes are adhered to across Navy operations. In this role, he directly supports the NAVWAR CHENG and manages a team of over 40 government and contractor personnel, along with managing an extensive Navy Qualified Validator workforce of over 800 professionals. He is a Navy Technical Warrant Holder in Cybersecurity Risk Management and has earned recognition as a technical leader, providing critical insights on the design, development, integration, and sustainment of Navy systems. He championed improvements in the Navy’s RMF process, cybersecurity practices, and research, development, test, and evaluation domains.

Dr. Harig was a prior active duty Navy Cryptologist, spending time at sea on the USS Winston S. Churchill as well as several years supporting critical missions at the National Security Agency. He also has a background in industry, leading various projects spanning HUMINT work with Joint Forces Command, supporting ISR interoperability efforts with NATO and ISAF coalition partners, as well as several projects within Fleet Cyber Command developing cloud-based technology for the intelligence community.

Dr. Harig holds several advanced-level certifications and has been actively involved in the academic community for the past eight years, regularly teaching graduate and post-graduate courses in the fields of computer science and cybersecurity. He regularly chairs dissertation committees, guiding students through the intellectual stages of doctoral research. Dr. Harig stays engaged in continuous professional development, recently completing a four-week Senior Executive Fellowship at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was recently nominated for the DoD CIO annual award for innovation and is a recipient of the Navy civilian service commendation medal. He resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, two daughters, and step son (ages 16, 18, and 21). In his free time he enjoys skiing in the winter and scuba diving in the summer.