CyberWire Daily - Jennifer Walsmith: Pioneering and defining possible. [Cyber Solutions] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Vice President for Cyber and Information Solutions within Mission Systems at Northrop Grumman, Jennifer Walsmith takes us on her pioneering career journey. Following in her father's footsteps at the National Security Agency, Jennifer began her career out of high school in computer systems analysis. Jennifer notes she saw the value of a college degree and at her parents' urging attended night school. She completed her bachelors in computer science at University of Maryland, Baltimore County with the support of the NSA. Jennifer talks about the support of her team at NSA where she was one of the first women to have a career and a family, raising two children while working. Upon retirement from government service, Jennifer chose an organization with values that closely matched her own and uses her position to help her team define possible where they sometimes think they can't. We thank Jennifer for sharing her story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. and VPNs, yet breaches continue to rise by an 18% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks and a $75 million record payout in 2024. These traditional security tools expand your attack surface with public-facing IPs that are exploited by bad actors more easily than ever with AI tools. It's time to rethink your security. Thank you. Learn more at zscaler.com slash security. My name is Jennifer Wallsmith. I'm the Vice President for Cyber and Information Solutions within Mission Systems, Northrop Grumman. I actually thought I wanted to be a vet when I grew up, but when I reflect, I really worked very closely with my father, and he was a big part of my life. He was a electrical engineer, and I helped him as his somewhat son outside of the house doing everything

from rewiring, building, anything that he needed done I learned in his shadow. He worked for NSA and ultimately I followed in his footsteps to NSA. Not exactly in the path that he wanted me to take, but ultimately he was a huge influence. When my siblings, who are both older than I, knew my father, he worked in a candy store, according to him, and he had business cards and so forth. That's how secretive NSA was in the times that they were growing up. That gradually changed. And I joined NSA in 1982. It still was not an

openly acknowledged agency. In fact, it was no such agency. But in my journey, they changed and they became an organization that was more transparent with the nation on what they were doing and their role. And it's one that I grew to understand from two lenses. I was one of only three public figures at NSA in my job as the senior acquisition executive for over 10 years. And so I had the opportunity to balance both of those equities. And it was a fascinating journey. NSA actually came to my high school, and I, unbeknownst to my parents, I took the battery testing that they would go out to the various local high schools, and I scored very well, and they offered me a job. My parents wanted me to go to college, but I was

quite a challenging teenager, and I said, no, I'm going to work. I was hired as a data entry operator, but quickly was fortunate to actually work in the field of computer systems analyst. I quickly realized that this college degree was a very important thing. In parallel with starting at NSA, they convinced me to enroll at the community college as a night school student. And so I did both of those things. Ultimately, NSA supported me to finish my college career at UMBC as a computer science major. The agency had a rich history of supporting women. If you look at the Cryptologic Museum, you'll see a lot of history about women. Nonetheless, it was still challenging. And I

really thought I would become an electrical engineer, just like my father. But he saw women struggle. What he said was, why not try this new emerging field called computer science? And so you can be part of the group that pioneered this field and that is ultimately what I did. I think it remained challenging in the 80s and even in the 90s. When I became a senior executive at NSA, there weren't women senior executives that had children. While there were many seniors that had been successful, they had to give up their opportunity in motherhood. What I pioneered with those around me and a tremendous support network was that I could do both. I could be a mother with two children I was raising and yet still have a successful career.

And having the courage to say, no, I'm room parent today and I need to leave, but still meeting the responsibilities that I had by having others support me. It wasn't until much later, close to my retirement, that I had so many women come to me and say, you showed me we could do this. And I didn't even realize it. And so that's very nostalgic for me because I didn't set forth to have that impact. It did take bravery and it did have a few arrows in my back, but I would say really not that many. It was about making sure we served the mission, but also supported one another in having lives beyond the mission. but also supported one another in having lives beyond the mission. So it was retirement, and I had the wonderful opportunity to join a company that had a lot of similar values to that which I had. And that was tremendous technical acumen, deep commitment to diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of ideas. When I think of

the ideas that we set forth, such as we're pioneers, we define possible, we promote and inspire inclusion and diversity of thought. That's exactly what I hired on for. I run a business, which we have a set of financial numbers that we have to achieve. But what I do more of is orchestrating and inspiring teams. The heart of my job is helping them define possible where they sometimes think they can't. Be bold. Embrace failure. Never stop learning.

And we're all leaders, whether it's your first day out of college, whether it's 10 years into your career, or whether it's one day before retirement. Regardless of your job title, we are all leaders. That's what will help us keep our nation safe, especially in a field of cyber, especially in a field of cyber, where if we don't pioneer, if we don't continue to define possible, we will not be successful against our adversaries. That's my advice. Hey everybody, Dave here. Have you ever wondered where your personal information is lurking online? Like many of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try Delete.me. I have to say, DeleteMe is a

game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected. DeleteMe's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete.me. Now at a special discount for our listeners, today get 20% off your Delete.me plan when you go to joindeleteme.com slash n2k and use promo code n2k at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to joindelete.me.com slash N2K and enter code N2K at checkout.

That's joindelete.me.com slash N2K, code N2K.