Peter Fonash
CTO, Office of Cybersecurity & Communications
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Dr. Peter M. Fonash is currently the Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for CS&C. He has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 1998.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Fonash was deputy manager and director of the National Communications System (NCS), serving nine months as the acting deputy manager and then becoming the full-time director in April 2005. From 1998 until July 2004, Dr. Fonash was the Chief of the NCS Technology and Programs Division. He managed priority communications services technology development, network modeling and analysis, specialized telecommunications research and development, and priority services standards.
Before arriving at NCS, Dr. Fonash served as the chief with the Defense Information System’s Agency (DISA) Joint Combat Support Applications Division, providing technical software integration services to the functional communities and guiding functional applications compliance with the standard common operational environment. He worked for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence and was responsible for defense communications infrastructure policy and program oversight. He was also chairman of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Information Technology (IT) Architecture Council.
From 1986 to 1994, Dr. Fonash held various Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) technical positions, including Director of Technology, and Chief of the Advanced Technology Office. He wrote DISA’s strategic plan and managed the development of the Technical Architecture for Information Management—the forerunner of today’s Enterprise Architecture.
Before joining the Federal government, Dr. Fonash worked for AT&T and the Burroughs Corporation (Unisys).
Dr. Fonash has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology and Engineering from George Mason University. His PhD dissertation was on software reuse metrics.
