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Ronald Dick, the former director of the FBIs National Infrastructure Protection Center, joined Computer Sciences Corp. Monday, eliminating himself from consideration for the top security job at the Department of Homeland Security.
Dick had been considered one of the candidates for director of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division of the new department. The director will oversee all of the information security assets and operations of the department.
CSC, based in El Segundo, Calif., hired Dick as the director of information assurance strategic initiatives. In this capacity hell be part of the Global Information Security Services unit and will be responsible for developing the market strategy for CSCs dealings with Homeland Security. Hell also provide technical assistance and solution-development services to government agencies regarding information assurance.
Dick joined the NIPC in 1998 and served as section chief in two different sections before he was named director in March 2001. Dick had recently resigned from the FBI, although he is still listed as the director on the NIPCs Web site.
The NIPC has come under sharp criticism in recent years for being slow to identify and respond to major threats on the Internet, including Code Red and the recent Slammer worm. Critics have also said that the center and its counterparts in other parts of the government fail to share enough information with each other. This is a situation that many hope will be rectified by the consolidation of many of the governments security organizations under the Homeland Security banner.
CSC does a large amount of government contracting work related to security and information assurance and has about 1,000 employees in the unit that Dick will join.