Fairfax County, Va., CISO Michael Dent on Leadership

An interview with Fairfax County CISO Michael Dent explores his public-service mission, long-term leadership, and approach to building resilient local-government cybersecurity, highlighting pandemic response (rapid secure remote work via zero trust and immutable data), current priorities (AI-driven detection, automation, cloud governance, workforce development), funding and talent challenges, effective vendor partnerships, and advocacy for expanding direct federal support to localities; he emphasizes business-aligned security, strong governance, and sustained leadership accountability.