Reporting
to the Under Secretary for Management, Richard McComb was appointed to the Senior
Executive Service and position of Chief Security Officer (CSO) for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security effective April 3, 2016.
In
his role as CSO, Mr. McComb is responsible for security-related programs
affecting the more than 240,000 DHS employees that make up the Department. Designated
as the Senior Agency Official by the DHS Secretary, Mr. McComb has oversight
authorities over all DHS security programs, including those undertaken at all
DHS Components. He exercises department-wide security program authorities in
the areas of personnel security, physical security, investigations,
administrative security, insider threats, identity management, special access
programs, and security training and awareness. As Chair of the CSO Council, Mr.
McComb partners with all his counterparts in the DHS Components to lead a
highly collaborative and uniquely decentralized security program designed to
safeguard the Department’s people, property, and information.
Prior
to coming to DHS, Mr. McComb served as the Director, Leased Facilities
Protection Directorate, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, where he exercised overall
responsibility for force protection, security, law enforcement, and emergency
management functions for 64 Department of Defense (DoD) leased facilities within
the National Capital Region housing over 22,000 DoD employees. Additionally, Mr. McComb served over 27 years
in the United States Air Force as a Security Forces Officer from which he
retired in 2015 at the rank of Colonel. During this time, Mr. McComb held a
variety of positions of increasing responsibility including key security and
law enforcement staff duty in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and
Headquarters Air Force, where he served as the Associate Director of Security
Forces. He has served as the Chief Security Officer four times at the
installation level and once at the Major Command level. Mr. McComb also served
as the Installation Commander of Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, one of
only 12 DoD joint bases providing full-service installation support for
military airlift and sealift operations, 53 multi-service organizations, and a
base population of more than 40,000 people.
Mr.
McComb holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbus State University, a
Master of Arts in Administrative Management with a public sector concentration
from the University of Maryland University College, as well as a Master of Military
Operational Art and Science from Air University, and a Master of Science in
National Security Strategy from the National Defense University. He is also a
graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy.
Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Richard.
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