March 19, 2025
The Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) Center advisory board co-chairs, Christina Ciocca Eller and Bob Sharp, announce new board members Mike Casey and Maggie Lewis. With award funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the SECURE Center aims to connect and empower the U.S. research community to address critical issues related to research security. The national center is led by Professor Mark Haselkorn, Director, and Lynette Arias, Co-Director at the University of Washington in partnership with five regional centers to create solutions and resources to support the research community ecosystem. The SECURE Center Advisory Board will provide independent guidance and recommendations to SECURE Center leadership teams concerning the strategy, plans, policies and procedures required to achieve SECURE mission objectives. Mike Casey and Maggie Lewis both bring valuable experience, expertise, and professional connections that will help inform the research community’s decisions and daily operations.
New advisory board members
Mike Casey is a national security expert with a career working for Congress and most recently served as the director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC). In this role he led counterintelligence and security activities for the federal government and was the security advisor to the director of national intelligence. Prior to this role, Casey served as the staff director for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and as a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee overseeing global operations and Department of Defense policies.
Margaret K. Lewis, J.D. is a professor of law at Seton Hall University and is currently on sabbatical as a visiting academic researcher at Melbourne Law School’s Asian Law Center. She most recently served as Seton Hall Law School’s associate dean for faculty development and institutional operations. Lewis is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Board of Directors. A scholar of legal issues in the U.S.-China relationship, her research focuses on China and Taiwan with an emphasis on criminal justice and human rights.
Empowering the research community
Ciocca Eller and Sharp are working with SECURE Center leadership to assemble a diverse group of leaders with experience and professional connections that will help best inform the research community’s decisions and daily operations. Board members will bring expertise in government research, security operations, civil liberties, the U.S. higher education ecosystem, and other relevant fields, providing comprehensive guidance on safeguarding research and operating a large, geographically dispersed, networked operation. This inclusive consultation process will ensure broad participation from researchers, practitioners, and other experts, providing essential insights for advising the SECURE community on research security tools, analysis, and community engagement.
The SECURE Center will help balance protection with collaboration, and broader initiatives with the needs of individual researchers. The Center will work with the research community on the co-design of shared tools, processes, and information resources that will seamlessly integrate into the research community’s workflows. By implementing, delivering, using, evaluating, and refining these capabilities within their work environments, the SECURE Center aims to support the community in seeing their vision realized in tangible forms.
Shared governance
As mandated by the “Chips and Science Act of 2022,” the strategic governance of the SECURE Center includes the Center Director, Board of Advisors, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Government Steering Committee.
Under the same initiative, the NSF awarded a companion grant of $17 million to Texas A&M University to launch the SECURE Analytics program. Dr. Kevin Gamache from Texas A&M University will lead this initiative with an advisory board chaired by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution and the 66th United States Secretary of State.
Security extends beyond technology to encompass a community of people working within a complex socio-technical system. The SECURE Center and SECURE Analytics will empower the research community to protect the immense value of their work while simultaneously supporting the collaboration that is a foundation of how they produce that value.