I’ve tried writing bios in many cases looking to describe that, which is neither interesting nor, fully truthful because of my own bias of having led that life. My pseudonym of Selil is the name of my parents boat when I was growing up, but it is also my last name backwards. I use it because I’ve always used it. Nothing to hide. I live an open source life so feel free to ask questions I’ll likely never work for anybody that requires me to be secret or keep secrets, but then again that may be a lie I haven’t realized. So. Just the facts. And, I learned that from going to school for way to long:
- A.A. General Studies (Because I couldn’t figure what I wanted to be when I was all grown up)
B.A. Communication (Because it was fun and interesting)
B.S.C.S. (Because someday I might want to get a real job)
M.S.C.S (Because I wanted a good paying job that was interesting)
PhD (Is in progress because once I got that high paying interesting job I realized that I wanted to play and do things that I was interested in)
If you’re in high school and the recruiters say join the National Guard and you can go active duty when you graduate believe them. You just might end up in the Marines going through boot camp for the second time in less than a year. The funny thing about being a young enlisted guy is you get told to do everything. By everybody! You might have a military occupational specialty but in the Marines it seems you get to do everything, all the time, quickly. Until you leave for the scary civilian world. I’ve always felt like I wasn’t done with my military service. I was injured fairly seriously while in the Marines and that left me feeling as if much was left un-experienced and undone. So military service?
- Washington State Army National Guard (Youthful tanker without a clue, inter-service transfer to USMC)
United States Marine Corps (Tow Technician, medical discharge for duty related injuries)
When I got out of the Marines I wandered around. I had some minor issues when I got out due to my medical condition but fairly rapidly I took on the time-honored tradition of law enforcement. I volunteered, I trained, I met some great people. A fishing buddy hired me to work in his police department part time (Marine buddy hooked us up), I then got hired into the same department, same group, same shift as my uncle (former Cpt. USN), then recruited by the head of the state police academy to move south to another jurisdiction.
- Suquamish tribal police department (Reserve officer at a little better than minimum wage)
Kitsap County Sheriffs Office (Corrections officer though I did little to correct or fix anything)
Pierce County Sheriffs Office (Corrections bureau with stints in court room services, transportation, and computer services)
When you are a law enforcement officer you find odd jobs to do. I spent a lot of time before there was an Internet building IT infrastructure. It works out pretty nice getting in on the ground floor of the personal computer era and fits so nice being a consultant in an industry that has no certifications or education requirements. That changed and I stumbled off to start my academic career. Consulting followed with a long list of clients and corporations. Some examples?
- MCIWorldcom (CPE, DTE, Y2k, security)
USAF Space Command (DSP/SBIRS) with TASC (administration, networking, security, etc…)
Sun Microsystems (enterprise services, networking, security, etc..)
NCR (worldwide customer service, networking, security, etc..)
Now I’m in academia. I moved to academia because with a measly masters degree I could teach technology. Technology is where science meets application. Academia will give me time to get my PhD and engage in my true passion applied research. I was able to get involved with some people at Purdue CERIAS and begin research into my passion. Having been awarded grants and built a fairly extensive and substantial laboratory environment from scratch I’m building the skill sets I need to bring to fruition my research. I’m building on skills like:
- Information assurance and security – defensive methods to protect critical information infrastructure
Computer (Cyber) Forensics“ techniques for detecting and realizing that an attack or intrusion has occurred and knowing who did it
Information warfare“ methods and strategies for interdicting, disrupting, and contextually changing the flow of information (thank you Web 2.0!)
Low intensity conflict and small wars“ the possible and recent battle space for cyber world attacks to have real world consequences
I have a weakness though. Ten years of law enforcement/military experience and over ten years of information technology jobs haven’t prepared me for my expanding research questions. I’m not prepared to talk about my topic as application rather than theory. When looking to answer somebody else’s related question I stumbled upon a few sites that gave me a model to use within my own research.
In the limited scope of small wars doctrine and low intensity conflict the methodology of using technology assets against an adversary creating real world consequence with cyber world tools hasn’t really been examined. What doctrinal model is appropriate to the cyber warfare terrain? How do we know the real world risks of technology centric warfare? In many ways the study of conflict and analysis of military affairs along with changes in technology give valid and realistic models for analysis of this emerging threat.
As an academic I tread the ivory halls of academia with a different perspective than many of my colleagues. For those seeking tenure it is a scary path, but the research has real world implications. I might never be anything special but my research focus literally is about the enablement and empowerment of the individual as a force that can challenge the nation state. In a world of conflict between state-less adversaries and nation states the asymmetric battlefield moves between real world kinetic energy weapons and the binary weapons of communication and coordination. Whether the adversary is corporation, domestic, foreign nation, or ideologue driven, the interconnections of technology have created a new terrain for warfare.
That’s what I’m up to this lifetime.