David Mussington

  1. Home
  2. Our Community
  3. Faculty & Staff
  4. David Mussington
Back to Faculty & Staff
Professor of the Practice; Senior Fellow, GoTech
Affiliations:
Curriculum Vitae

David Mussington is a professor of the practice at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and an affiliate researcher at UMD's ARLIS UARC. He previously served as executive assistant director for infrastructure security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was one of three presidentially appointed officials responsible for the security and resilience of the nation's 16 critical infrastructure sectors. 

Mussington was elected to the ISC2 Board of Directors for the 2026-28 term and is a fellow of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology and co-chair of ICIT's Center for FCEB Resilience. Since leaving federal service in January 2025, Mussington's research has focused on cyber defense of critical infrastructures, AI governance and frontier AI capacity uplift and risk management. From 2010 to 2013, Mussington served on the White House National Security Council staff as director –  surface transportation security policy and was senior advisor for cyber policy for the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Undersecretary for Policy. 

Mussington's background includes work at RAND Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), and private sector roles in infrastructure security at the American Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), and consulting CISO advisory services to Canada's Central Bank, the Bank of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Canada's Carleton University and B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics and political science from the University of Toronto. He is an internationally known expert on AI applied to cyberspace operations, and is an advisor to NATO DEEP and the Partnership for Peace Consortium in both curriculum design and editorial board roles. In 2021, Mussington was elected a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.


 

Areas of Interest
  • Cybersecurity; critical infrastructure protection; science & technology policy; international security; US defense & foreign policy
PLCY201 Public Leaders and Active Citizens
3 Credit(s)

This course aims to inspire, teach and engage students in the theory and practice of public leadership from the local to the national to the global level. Students will learn and apply diverse approaches to leadership in a multicultural society while developing an understanding of key frameworks and practices necessary to foster collective action across private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Students will also explore and assess their own personal values, beliefs, and purpose as they develop their leadership potential. Finally, students will understand the leadership skills and challenges particular to their role as a future policymaker.
Schedule of Classes

PLCY388X Special Topics in Public Policy; Cyber Conflict: Broad Scope and Disparate Impacts
3 Credit(s)

Cyber conflict is often considered a distant problem the concern of mi litary commands and national governments. Cyber operations and intelligence remain at the center of conflict patterns, but there is so much more. The focus on state-on-state conflict is belied by the fact that the tools and targets of cyber conflict are frequently mundane and include information and services used daily by the public. And if tools can be used by everyone, attribution of effects can be to anyone. Harm can be unevenly distributed, and often falls on those least equipped to deal with its short term and long-term effects. Algorithmic decision making raises the issue of disparate impact hidden in non-transparent supposedly unbiased settings. This seminar explores these issues connecting old concept s of security with new concerns with disparate impact, privacy, access, and disinformation.

PLCY388X SPECIAL TOPICS IN PUBLIC POLICY; CYBER CONFLICT: BROAD SCOPE AND DISPARATE IMPACTS
3 Credit(s)
Offered: Spring 2021

Cyber conflict is often considered a distant problem the concern of mi litary commands and national governments. Cyber operations and intelligence remain at the center of conflict patterns, but there is so much more. The focus on state-on-state conflict is belied by the fact that the tools and targets of cyber conflict are frequently mundane and include information and services used daily by the public. And if tools can be used by everyone, attribution of effects can be to anyone. Harm can be unevenly distributed, and often falls on those least equipped to deal with its short term and long-term effects. Algorithmic decision making raises the issue of disparate impact hidden in non-transparent supposedly unbiased settings. This seminar explores these issues connecting old concept s of security with new concerns with disparate impact, privacy, access, and disinformation.

PLCY401 Contemporary Issues in Public Policy
3 Credit(s)

An integrative course that allows policy students to explore the complexities of the policy-making process from the perspective of specific policy topics. They will learn about and discuss subject- based issues in a seminar format led by faculty and policy experts. Site visits to federal agencies, guest speakers, and round table sessions ensure that students receive a variety of real-world perspectives on their chosen policy area. Restricted to students who have earned a minimum of 90 credits.
Schedule of Classes

View All Publications