Tim Polk

Tim Polk is currently the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he is member of the policy teams for cybersecurity, high performance computing, and quantum information science. He joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1982. After exploring computer networks and developing electronic publishing standards, he joined the computer security division in 1989 where he focused on standardization of public key infrastructure and development of crypto-based security protocols. As one of the authors of FIPS 201, Personal Identity Verification, Tim helped realize the government-wide identity credentials envisioned by HSPD-12. Tim also served four years on the IETF's Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) as one of two Area Directors for Security. As Security AD, he was responsible for the operations of seven working groups and reviewed the security aspects of every candidate RFC submitted for official publication. He became the NIST Cryptographic Technology Group Leader in January 2011, initiating new efforts in post quantum cryptography and privacy enhancing cryptography. He joined the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2012. Tim is also co-author of the book “Planning for PKI”, and has degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland.