Marcus Sachs has served as executive director of government affairs for national security and cyber policy at Verizon in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Verizon, he was the deputy director of SRI International's Computer Science Laboratory. Marcus served as the director of the SANS Internet Storm Center 2003 to 2010 and is an internationally recognized computer security expert. He brings nearly 30 years of professional experience to SANS, including 20 years of active military service as an officer in the United States Army and two years of national cyberspace security policy development as a Presidential appointee to the National Security Council staff in the George W. Bush administration. Marcus was the first cyber security official assigned to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 where he developed the initial concept and strategy for the creation of the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team. He was also a founding member of the Defense Department's Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense, created in 1998 as the first US military organization designed to fight foreign threats in cyberspace. He is currently the secretary of the Communications Sector Coordinating Council and is a member of the CSIS Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency. Marcus is a licensed professional engineer in Virginia.