Richard Clarke formerly served as special adviser on cybersecurity to the president of the United States. He has worked for the federal government for more than 30 years, making him become known as the czar of federal cybersecurity. Indeed, he has had a long-spanning career in the federal government, serving democratic and republican administrations. In 2003, this three-decade career came to an end and he faced controversies as he stood before the 9/11 Commission to testify and let the government know of his professional opinions on the incident that shook the whole world. He has also expressed his opinions about the 9/11 tragedy through his book, “Against All Enemies”, criticizing the Bush administration about the war in Iraq which is known to have triggered the tragedy.
Furthermore, he spent his last year in the Bush administration as the special adviser for cybersecurity, doing what he could do best to stop what he coined as the “digital Pearl Harbor”. Because of his notable works in cybersecurity both in public and private sectors, he has been considered as one of the earliest pioneers in the said industry and still continues to further advancements and innovations.
Currently, as managing partner of Good Harbor Consulting, he helps clients to providing professional advices on a wide range of issues including corporate security risk management, counterterrorism, and information security technology, among others. As he puts it, if one spends more money on coffee than IT security, then he will be hacked -- and he even deserves to be hacked.