Frank J. Cilluffo is the Director of the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University and host of the weekly Cyber Focus podcast. Cilluffo was a member of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission and served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, where he chaired various initiatives on counterterrorism, cybersecurity and economic security. He’s routinely called upon to advise senior officials in the executive branch, U.S. Armed Services, and state and local governments on an array of matters related to national, homeland, and cyber security strategy and policy. He has publicly testified before Congress on dozens of occasions, serving as a subject matter expert on policies related to cyber threats, critical infrastructure security, counterterrorism, weapons proliferation, intelligence and threat assessments, emergency management, and border and transportation security.  

Immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cilluffo served as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush in the newly created White House Office of Homeland Security. There, he was involved in a wide range of homeland security and counterterrorism strategies, policy initiatives and served as a principal advisor to Governor Tom Ridge and directed the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. 
 
Cilluffo then joined George Washington University in 2003, establishing the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security as a prominent nonpartisan “think and do tank” dedicated to building bridges between theory and practice to advance U.S. security. He served as an associate vice president at GW, where he led a number of national security and cybersecurity policy and research initiatives. He directed the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and, with the School of Business, launched the university’s World Executive MBA in Cybersecurity program.  

Prior to his White House appointment, Cilluffo spent eight years in senior policy positions with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. There, he directed numerous committees and task forces on homeland defense, counterterrorism and transnational organized crime, as well as information warfare and information assurance. 
 
He has published extensively in academic, law, business and policy journals, as well as magazines and newspapers worldwide. His work has been published through ABC News, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, The Journal of International Security Affairs, The National Interest, Newsweek, Parameters, Politico, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Quarterly, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.  He previously served as an on-air consultant for CBS News and currently serves as a Trustee for the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering and is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Cyber Florida.