Robert “Bob” Butler is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, a position he has held since 2009.

In this role, he is responsible for providing policy advice and support to the defense secretary and other senior defense officials by creating and recommending strategies to improve the department’s cyber posture.

Previously, Butler served as an account executive with government-contracting company CSC, where he managed the firm’s defense intelligence business.

Butler, a former member of the Senior Executive Service, recently served as the associate director of the Joint Information Operations Warfare Command at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Butler is also a retired U. S. Air Force officer. From December 1979 to August 2005, he served in a variety of intelligence and communications-systems positions throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Rear Adm. Greg Smith is the deputy chief of staff for communication for U.S. and NATO International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan, a position he has held since 2009.

Smith is responsible for all communication activities in theater, including public affairs, military information support operations and traditional communication. He was promoted to rear admiral upper half following assignment to his current position.

Previously, Smith was communication director for United States Central Command. And 2007 to 2008, he served as principal spokesman and chief of public affairs for Multi-National Forces in Iraq during the troop surge there.

Smith was selected as a flag officer in May 2006, when he was serving as special assistant for public affairs to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal, among others.

Juan Zarate was a deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism in the George W. Bush administration. He now serves as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in the D.C. think tank’s Transnational Threats Project.

Before joining the National Security Council, Zarate served in the Treasury Department as the assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes. While there, he led the departments domestic and overseas efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering systems as well as further cementing the Treasury Department’s role in counterterrorism efforts.

Zarate also served as a prosecutor in the Justice Department’s Terrorism and Violent Crime Prevention section.

He is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School and is the author of a book on U.S. foreign policy in Central America.

Timothy J. Healy was appointed director of the Terrorist Screening Center in May 2009.

The TSC is an FBI organization tasked with identifying suspected or potential terrorists and administering the government’s terrorist watchlist.

Prior to being named TSC director, Healy served as an FBI special agent and as a program manager in the FBI Headquarters Economic Crime Unit, focusing on telemarketing fraud.

In 2000, he initiated the Internet Fraud Complaint Center and was promoted as its first unit chief. During the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Healy and his staff developed a website to receive online tips which became the basis for the “Submit a Tip” feature of the FBI’s website.

As a supervisory special agent, Healy developed a software system to track suspicious activity, which was later adopted by FBI Headquarters and is now known as GUARDIAN.

Healy graduated from Benedictine University in 1979 and began his career as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Paul Schneider, now a principal with The Chertoff Group, previously served as deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, where he managed the day-to-day operations of the 220,000 employee-strong agency and was responsible for an annual budget of $52.6 billion.

Earlier, as undersecretary for management, he was responsible for DHS’ financial management along with the agency’s procurement and management of its IT systems, facilities and equipment.

Schneider left DHS in February 2009 after having served as deputy secretary since June 2008.

At Chertoff Group, a risk-management and consulting firm launched by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Schneider focuses on budgeting, procurement and managing security programs as well as the defense and aerospace industries.

He also served as the senior acquisition executive of the National Security Agency, where he oversaw the development and acquisition of information security programs.

He has a degree in nuclear engineering and is a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers, the Armed forces Communications and Electronics Association and the Association of Scientists and Engineers.

Jack Holt serves as a public affairs planner in the Defense Department’s Defense Media Activity.

He previously headed the Defense Department’s “new media” strategies as a senior strategist for emerging media for DMA.

The emerging media office was created by the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review — the Pentagon’s four-year planning document — to help guide policy and procedures for an increasingly digital and connected media environment.

The Defense Media Activity offers streamlined, multimedia services for DoD and the military services.

Holt is responsible for developing communication strategies to leverage DoD’s efforts in the new and social media realm and incorporating them into more traditional efforts.

As part of his duties, Holt often briefs Senior Executive Service officials and flag officers on social media strategy.

He formerly served with DoD Press Operations Media Outreach and as a media officer for the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center.

He is a member of the Social Media for Government Transparency and Openness Program Advisory Board, the DoDTechipedia Governance Board and the PRSA National Capital Region.

Holt has prior active-duty military service with the National Guard

Mindy Connolly joined the General Services Administration in February 2011 after serving as the senior policy analyst at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy where she led the agency’s natural resources division. In her role there, she was instrumental in President Barack Obama’s 2009 federal executive order aiming to cut back on agency greenhouse gas emissions.

The October 2009 order set a goal of 2020 for federal agencies to  reduce emissions and reduce petroleum consumption.

Before joining the federal government, Connolly worked as a contractor, herself, in the defense sector of  Honeywell International.

At GSA, Connolly has said she will focus on promoting government-contractor communication. “[T]here are barriers to communication on both sides of the desk … Both sides still have a lot to learn about how we need to communicate; it’s a two-way street,” she said.

William J. Lynn III was named the 30^th deputy secretary of defense by President Barack Obama in 2009.

He worked in a number of positions in the Defense Department, including director of program analysis and evaluation, as well as DoD comptroller, a position he served in from 1997 to 2001.

Lynn’s longtime public service is balanced by stints in the private sector. He served as senior vice president of government operations and strategy at Raytheon, and as executive vice president of DFI International, a Washington-based management consulting firm.

Lynn graduated from Dartmouth College and Cornell Law School and he has a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

James W. Cluck is the deputy for acquisitions for the U.S. Special Operations Command based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

In his role at USSOCOM and as a member of the Senior Executive Service, he is responsible for all special operations forces research, development, acquisition, procurement and logistics.

Cluck has been a member of the USSOCOM since 1992. Previously, he was an aviation photographic-electronics technician with the Marine Corps, before entering The Citadel and being commissioned as an air defense officer, working as a systems engineering officer and project manager for developing signals intelligence systems. Cluck retired from the USMC in 1989.

While at USSOCOM, he held a number of positions, including program manager for both intelligence systems and C4I automation systems, as well as CIO and director of the Center for Networks and Communications.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from The Citadel and a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

Four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal retired from his storied military career in June 2010.

Before his resignation as commander of all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, McChrystal, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was the director of the Joint Staff and the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.

While heading the JSOC, McChrystal oversaw the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is credited with the elimination of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In September 2010, McChrystal began teaching a course on leadership at Yale University. Titled “Leadership in Operation,” the class will be offered to graduate students at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and will cover a diverse range of topics such as the media environment and navigating politics.

McChrystal will also draw on his personal combat experiences in teaching the course.