Cybersecurity: Threats and Responses

Mr. George C. Barnes serves as the Deputy Director and senior civilian leader of the National Security Agency (NSA). In this capacity, he acts as the NSA’s chief operating officer, responsible for guiding and directing operations, studies, and policy. 

Having joined the NSA in 1987, Mr. Barnes has held a number of critical technical and operational leadership roles throughout his career, to include: Deputy Chief of the SIGINT Development Strategy and Governance organization and Chief of Data Acquisition, NSA’s SIGINT access, collection, and exploitation organization. Prior to his appointment as NSA’s Deputy Director, Mr. Barnes held the position of NSA Director of the Workforce Support Activities Directorate where he was responsible for ensuring the effective training, security and counterintelligence, and installations and logistics. 

Mr. Barnes is a certified Cryptologic Engineer with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. His professional recognition has included the prestigious National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, a Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the NSA Ann Caracristi Award for Operations and Production Excellence, an Intelligence Community Leadership Collaboration Award, and Distinguished and Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Awards.