Dr. Roger R. Schell

One of the foremost contributors to, and authorities on "high assurance" computer security, he is co-founder and President of ?sec Corporation, a start-up company providing verifiably secure platforms, focused on appliances built on hardened platforms for secure, reliable e-business on the Internet. For several years he managed the development and delivery of security for several Novell releases of network software products including an integral PKI, an international crypto API, and an authentication service with exposed SSL capability. He was co-founder and Vice President for Engineering of Gemini Computers, Inc., where he directed development of Gemini's Class A1 network processor commercial product. He was also the founding Deputy Director of the (now) National Computer Security Center. Previously he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School. Born in Richey, Montana where he spent the earliest years of his life, but as he was entering his junior year of high school, he and his family moved to Belgrade, Montana. After he finished high school, he attended Montana State University (MSU), where he graduated from the ROTC program and received a degree in Electrical Engineering. At MSU, he decided to accept sponsorship from the U.S. Air Force to attend graduate school at Washington State University (WSU), passing over a full fellowship offer from Stanford University. He earned a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from WSU in 1963. Following graduation, the Air Force assigned him to the Electronics Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force base in Bedford, Massachusetts. At Hanscom, he worked with the Air Force on its Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, which was a missile detection system. After he finished his work on the project, he was then assigned to work on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, which was designed to semi-automate the radar sites. During this work on the SAGE system, he became much more involved in computer programming. As a skilled engineer working for the Air Force, he was constantly pressured during these years to return to graduate school where he could advance his education. He persuaded his officers to send him to MIT from which he graduated with a Ph.D. in Computer Science In 1971. During his career, he has originated several security design and evaluation techniques and holds patents in cryptography and authentication. He has been referred to as the "father" of the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (the "Orange Book"). The NIST and NSA have recognized him with the National Computer System Security Award. In 2012 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame. He is the author of ?Computer Security: The Achilles' Heel of the Electronic Air Force?? Air University Review 30(2) (January-February 1979); and the co-author with Paul A. Karger of ?Thirty Years Later: Lessons from the Multics Security Evaluation?, ACSAC '02 Proceedings of the 18th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (2002).