Information Resources Management College: Director Robert Childs

Eric Chabrow (GovInfoSecurity) • March 13, 2009 15 Minutes

The Information Resources Management College isn't your father's or mother's graduate school. Part of the National Defense University, run by the Defense Department and based at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., IRMC offers graduate-level courses to government employees working in civilian and defense agencies in 10 programs, including its fastest growing, information assurance.

In this interview, college Director Robert Childs and faculty members Robert Young and Stephen Mancini discuss:

What government information security professionals can get out of the college to help advance their careers.

The unusual background of some of its faculty.

How the college will align its future courses with the information security goals of the Obama administration.

Robert Childs was named head of the Information Resources Management College in 1999. He established Centers of Excellence for Education in E-government and Information Assurance while expanding the number of institutions offering cooperative masters and doctoral degrees and increasing international and industry participation in programs.

Robert "Rocky" Young has been a professor at the college since 2002. Young spent 21 years in the Air Force and is a certified physician's assistant who continues to practice medicine. He has presented widely on information assurance issues in healthcare, challenges related to wireless networks, cyber security and network and systems security principles, safeguards, and practices. Stephen Mancini is an active-duty Air Force captain who has performed key analysis on a variety of intelligence, surveillance and risk assessment projects for the Air Force Chief of Staff. His expertise is in critical infrastructure protection, information assurance and security and information operations and warfare.