Rizwan Ali was a fellow in New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative. Ali is managing director of cyMars, a cybersecurity consulting company. He is a retired colonel from the U.S. Air Force with three decades of experience in cybersecurity, information technology, and space systems.Ali has held the military equivalent of C-suite and corporate-level jobs to include CEO, COO, CIO, and CISO positions and has a history of working on governance, advisory, and non-profit boards. He also has extensive international work experience in Europe (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Estonia), Asia (Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan), and Africa (Gabon, Tanzania, Ethiopia).
During his military career, Ali led four large organizations, including a combat communications squadron, a communications squadron at an air logistics hub, an expeditionary combat support group, and a cybersecurity/engineering center serving the entire Air Force. In his last military assignment, he established the cyber program for NATO’s military for which he was awarded NATO’s highest award by the NATO Secretary General.
His work has had national and international impact. He was on the interagency teams that wrote the President’s National Security Space Policy and the Secretary of Defense’s Space Policy. Additionally, he was on the international teams which wrote NATO’s Enhanced Cyber Defense Policy and Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s cyber policy.
Ali’s articles have been published in several publications to include Joint Force Quarterly, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Three Swords Magazine, and a British peer-reviewed cyber security journal.
He has a bachelor of engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and master’s degrees from Troy University, Air University, and National War College.