From the Rafters: Bailey Bickley, Chief Strategy Officer, NSA Cybersecurity Collaboration Center

Outspoken with Shana Cosgrove

Collaboration, Transparency, and Family Legacy.

In this episode of The Outspoken Podcast, host Shana Cosgrove talks to Bailey Bickley, Chief Strategy Officer for the NSA Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. Bailey discusses The NSA’s journey from a private organization to one that is now discussing cybersecurity publicly to help ensure online safety. Bailey’s family has been a part of The NSA for 3 generations, and Bailey explains why this family legacy is so important to her. She also explains SolarWinds and other hacking incidents, and why the mission of The NSA is so vital to protect the national interests of The United States. Lastly, Bailey reveals to us her favorite book, future TED talk topic, and the popular movie franchise that puts her to sleep!

QUOTES

• “You want to build trust through transparency. Folks won’t take action on our cybersecurity guidance, unless they trust the source of that guidance.” - Bailey Bickley [05:32]
• “I realized very early on that my enthusiasm, my ability to connect with people was a skill. It wasn’t just a personality aspect, but it was something that I could leverage in the workplace to get the job done.” - Bailey Bickley [21:38]
• “If you don’t lean into identifying what you don’t understand and remediating that, you’ll only get so far. [...] Making sure you put the work in first, versus relying on other people to teach you, I think is really important.” - Bailey Bickley [38:00]

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:04] Intro
• [01:31] Meet Bailey Bickley
• [05:01] The Shift into a Public-Facing NSA
• [14:42] SolarWinds Cybersecurity Incident
• [17:15] NSA’s Missions
• [21:01] How Bailey’s Personality Fits into NSA
• [24:07] Bailey’s Start with NSA
• [34:57] Mistakes and Moments of Failure
• [37:14] Advice for Young People
• [39:38] Bailey’s Book Recommendation
• [43:49] Bailey’s Surprising Fact
• [46:48] Outro

RELEVANT LINKS

• Bailey Bickley on LinkedIn
• Intelligencecareers.gov/nsa
• Nyla Technology Solutions

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Live well, Shana