Paul Kurtz, Cyber Security Expert and Former Presidential Advisor, to Give Talk at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Paul Kurtz '86 will give a talk titled "Counterterrorism, the 9/11 Commission Report, and the Intelligence Reform" on April 7 at 4 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. Kurtz, who has nearly two decades of experience in domestic and national security, will discuss U.S. counterterrorism efforts, intelligence legislation, and terrorist threats to U.S. cybersecurity.

Kurtz is the executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the only public policy advocacy group comprised exclusively of security software, hardware, and service vendors addressing key cyber security issues.

Kurtz served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Critical Infrastructure Protection on the White House’s Homeland Security Council. He was responsible for developing the White House’s strategy and policy for the identification, prioritization, and protection of critical physical and cyber assets across all sectors of the U.S. economy.

Prior to joining the HSC in 2003, Kurtz served on the White House’s National Security Council as senior director for National Security of the Office of Cyberspace Security and member of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. Prior to becoming a senior director on the NSC, Kurtz served as a director for counterterrorism in the NSC’s Office of Transnational Threats from 1999 to 2001, during the millennium terrorist threat and the 9/11 attacks.

The talk is sponsored by the departments of history and political science and the Office of the President.

For more information, contact Charles Gallagher, S.J., of the history department, at 508-793-3450.