National Defense University cyber professor tapped as ONCD deputy director

The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) announced Wednesday that former Navy SEAL and National Defense University cyberspace professor Harry Wingo has been selected as its deputy director.

Wingo, who starts this week, has a diverse background with stints as CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, senior policy counsel at Google, counsel to the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce & Transportation and adviser at the Federal Communications Commission.

Most recently, Wingo has served for nearly eight years as a faculty member at the National Defense University’s College of Information and Cyberspace where his LinkedIn profile said he prepared military and civilian leaders to “develop and implement cyberspace strategies, and to leverage information and technology to advance national and global security.”

“Harry is an accomplished leader with a unique set of expertise and experiences in the public and private sectors to include service,” National Cyber Director Harry Coker said in a prepared statement. 

“Harry’s lifetime of leadership will greatly contribute to our team’s mission to advance our nation’s security, economic prosperity and technological innovation through cybersecurity policy leadership,” the statement added.

The ONCD, established in 2021, is tasked with advising the president on cybersecurity matters. It published a national cybersecurity strategy in 2023, which focused on tasks like streamlining regulatory directives and expanding the country’s cybersecurity workforce.

Wingo replaces Jake Braun, who made his way to ONCD from the Department of Homeland Security where he served as a senior counsel for transformation to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas beginning in 2022.

Braun, the author of “Democracy in Danger: How Hackers and Activists Exposed Fatal Flaws in the Election System,” now returns to the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy faculty.