Robert E. Joyce is an American

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

official who served as special assistant to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and Cybersecurity Coordinator on the

U.S. National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...

. He also began serving as

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Homeland Security Adviser The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, commonly referred to as the Homeland Security Advisor and formerly the Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is a senior aide in the ...

to President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

on an acting basis after the resignation of

Tom Bossert Thomas P. Bossert (born March 25, 1975) is an American lawyer and former Homeland Security Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump. He is an ABC News Homeland Security analyst. Immediately before, he was a fellow at the Atlantic Council and prior ...

from April 10, 2018 to May 31, 2018. He completed his detail to the White House in May 2018 and returned to the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

. where he is now the Senior Advisor to the Director NSA for Cyber Security

Strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

, Joyce previously performed as acting Deputy Homeland Security Advisor since October 13, 2017. On January 15, 2021 the NSA announced that Joyce would replace

Anne Neuberger Anne Neuberger (born 1976) is an American national security official, who serves as the Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology in the Biden Administration. Prior to this role, she served for over a decade at NSA, as Dir ...

as its Director of Cybersecurity.

Education

Joyce graduated from

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...

in 1989 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Electrical and Computer Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1993.

Career

At the White House, Joyce was instrumental in the crafting of a cybersecurity executive order, EO13800 Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure and revamping the nation's Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP). In his current position he continues to speak publicly about nation state cybersecurity threats, including a 2018

DEF CON DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyer ...

keynote. Joyce previously worked in the

(NSA), beginning in 1989, in a variety of roles. From 2013 to 2017, he was head of the NSA's

Tailored Access Operations The Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), now Computer Network Operations, and structured as S32, is a cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the National Security Agency (NSA). It has been active since at least 1998, possibly 1997 ...

(TAO), a

cyber-warfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...

intelligence-gathering unit. In that role, he gave a rare public talk at the USENIX Enigma Cybersecurity conference abou
disrupting nation state hackers
Previously, he served as the Deputy Director of the now-defunct

Information Assurance Directorate Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

(IAD) or Directorate I, and the SID Associate Deputy Director for Counterterrorism. Also within the NSA, Joyce worked as Technical Director for the NSA Commercial Solution Center's Commercial Partnerships Office, and was chief of the Selection Systems Branch and Technical Director in NSA's

Special Source Operations Special Source Operations (SSO) is a division in the US National Security Agency (NSA) which is responsible for all programs aimed at collecting data from major fiber-optic cables and switches, both inside the US and abroad, and also through corpor ...

. After

John R. Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...

pushed out

as the Homeland Security advisor, Joyce announced he had completed this twelve month detail to the White House and gave 30 days notice that he was returning to NSA because of the difficulties in getting priority attention for cyber policy in the administration. Bolton subsequently eliminated the White House Cybersecurity Advisor position.

Personal life

Joyce notes in his biography that he runs an annual Christmas Light show "likely visible from the International Space Station" and gave a talk title
"Building Absurd Christmas Light Shows"
at the 2018

Shmoocon ShmooCon is an American hacker convention organized by The Shmoo Group. There are typically 40 different talks and presentations on a variety of subjects related to computer security and cyberculture. Multiple events are held at the convention re ...

cybersecurity conference. Additionally he led a

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

team to the annual World Championship of

Pumpkin Chucking Punkin chunkin, or as it is sometimes called pumpkin chucking, is the sport of hurling a pumpkin solely by mechanical means for distance. The devices used include slingshots, catapults, centrifugals, trebuchets, and pneumatic (air) cannons. P ...

, building a contraption to fling pumpkins for distance.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Rob Living people Johns Hopkins University alumni Clarkson University alumni Trump administration personnel United States presidential advisors Year of birth missing (living people) National Security Agency people