Melissa Hathaway is President of Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC and a Senior Advisor at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Having served in two Presidential administrations, Ms. Hathaway brings a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional perspective to strategic consulting and strategy formulation for public and private sector clients. She is raising public awareness by writing and speaking publicly about current real-world problems and is building information and research bridges among academic, industrial and government stakeholders.

From February 2009 to August 2009, Ms. Hathaway served in the Obama Administration as Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace in the National Security Council. In that capacity she assembled a team of experienced government cyber experts to conduct the 60-Day Cyberspace Policy Review. In May 2009, the President presented the elegant blueprint of the Cyberspace Policy Review, announced cybersecurity as one of his Administration’s priorities, and recognized Ms. Hathaway’s leadership in conducting the review. In the ensuing months, Ms. Hathaway stood-up the Cybersecurity Office within the National Security Staff to commence the work called for in that blueprint.

During the last two years of administration of President George W. Bush, Ms Hathaway served as Cyber Coordination Executive and Director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She built a broad coalition from within the Executive Branch and established an unprecedented partnership with Congress to obtain bipartisan support for addressing cybersecurity priorities. She developed and created a unified cross-agency budget submission for FY 2008 and for 2009-13, assembling disparate funding sources into a coherent, integrated program.  One of the single largest intelligence programs of the Bush administration, the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative has been carried forward by the Obama administration. At the conclusion of her government service she received the National Intelligence Reform Medal in recognition of her achievements.

Previously, Ms. Hathaway was a Principal with Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc., where she led two primary business units: information operations and long range strategy and policy support, supporting key offices within the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. Earlier in her career she worked with Evidence Based Research, Inc. and the American Foreign Service Association.

Ms. Hathaway is frequent keynote speaker on cybersecurity matters, and regularly publishes papers and commentary in this field.