James Craft

Deputy Director, C4/Deputy Chief Information Officer Marine Corps

Mr. Craft was selected to serve as the Deputy Director, C4 in September 2006. Prior to selection as Deputy Director, C-4, Mr. Craft served as Senior Telecommunications Advisor, Afghanistan Reconstruction Group, US Department of State. In this role, Mr. Craft led all US government reconstruction and development activities for the Afghan Information Communications Technology (ICT) Sector (telecommunications and information technology). Upon appointment to this position in September, 2005, Mr. Craft organized US efforts to focus disparate efforts from various US government departments and agencies into a coordinated program which rapidly improved performance and focused US investments. Dramatic improvements occurred in the Afghan ICT sector and the Afghan Ministry of Communications. He established interagency and public/private sector working groups both in the US and in Afghanistan. Additionally, both through these working groups and individually, he worked with international organizations the government of Afghanistan, donor organizations, and non-governmental organizations to implement results-oriented techniques derived from the business world and the government sector such as portfolio management, performance management, and Six Sigma. This collaborative approach has helped make the ICT sector one of the leading success stories in Afghanistan during his tenure.

Prior to serving as Senior Telecommunications Advisor, Mr. Craft was a Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers leading technology engagements supporting the Department of Defense and other organizations. Earlier, Mr. Craft was the Chief Information Security Officer for Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems Company. He led strategic information assurance, customer engagements, and chaired the Raytheon Information Security and Information Management Technical Interest Group. He also served as an IT Director for a $1.1B business unit and sponsored a number of successful Six Sigma projects. Prior to joining Raytheon in 2001, Mr. Craft led the creation of a new Information Assurance Program at the US Agency for International Development as the Agency’s Information Systems Security Officer. This program recently received an “A+” on its FISMA assessment. Mr. Craft also chaired the Security Practices Subcommittee of the Federal CIO Council and the Best Security Practices pilot initiative (see http://csrc.nist.gov/fasp), leading the development and implementation of various government-wide best security practices such as Certification and Accreditation.

Previously, Mr. Craft lead security and information technology departments and teams with SRA International, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and Betac Corporation.

Born at MAS Cherry Point in 1956, Mr. Craft is a fourth generation Marine. Mr. Craft served as a US Marine Corps Communications Officer with an Infantry Platoon and later as a logistics officer in the Marine Ready Reserves.

Mr. Craft holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Management from George Mason University. He is a graduate of the National Defense University Information Resources Management College Advanced Management Program, with a Chief Information Officer (CIO) and a CNSS 4011 Information Assurance (IA) Certificate, and the Federal Executive Institute Program for the US Agency for International Development. Mr. Craft holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Information Systems Security Architecture, Engineering and Management Professional (ISSAP, ISSEP, and ISSMP) designations from the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2. Mr. Craft has served on and led a series of National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) Task Force working groups.