The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has appointed Paul Courtney Chief Procurement Officer for the agency, effective August 15, 2021.
Prior to being named to his new position, Courtney served in DHS as the deputy chief procurement officer since June 2019. Before that, Courtney had been section chief and Head of the Contracting Activity for the FBI for six years, along with positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“Paul Courtney joined DHS in June 2019 as the Deputy Chief Procurement Officer and is a seasoned procurement professional,” a DHS management spokesperson said. “In his new role, Mr. Courtney will serve as the Department’s Senior Procurement Executive and will have oversight of the Department’s procurement functions.”
Courtney begins his new role with DHS as the agency works to improve government and private sector cybersecurity and supply chain security in the aftermath of high-profile ransomware attacks, and cyber attacks that were launched through software supply chains.
Currently, several DHS-related cyber bills are making their way through the Senate, including:
- The State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act;
- The Cybersecurity Opportunity Act;
- The DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act of 2021; and
- The Domains Critical to Homeland Security Act.
These pieces of legislation will help boost cybersecurity through coordination with DHS, require that DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency maintain capabilities to detect and mitigate cyberthreats, and direct DHS to research supply chain vulnerabilities.
