Dr. Daniel “Rags” Ragsdale

Dr. Daniel "Rags" Ragsdale is a retired Army Colonel with more than 45 years of experience spanning the White House, Department of Defense, academia, and industry. Most recently, Dr. Ragsdale served as Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director at the White House, where he led implementation of the nation's inaugural National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy. That work influenced more than $100 billion in federal contracting and secured public and private sector commitments to create more than 35,000 new cybersecurity jobs.

Dr. Ragsdale holds a 1981 graduation from the United States Military Academy, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University. His research and development expertise spans cybersecurity, cyber operations, and behavioral science. He established a mindset of information assurance education that extends far beyond his immediate duties.

Dr. Ragsdale is an author or co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and is a recipient of the Federal Information Systems Security Education Association (FISSEA) Educator of the Year Award, the Texas A&M Engineering Genesis Award for Multidisciplinary Research, and the U.S. Military Academy Apgar Award for Excellence in Teaching. Among his military awards are the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, the Legion of Merit, six Meritorious Service Medals, the Bronze Star, Ranger Tab, and Master Parachutist Wings.

Career History

• Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director, White House Office of the National Cyber Director (2023-2026)
• Vice President for Research & Development and Vice President for DoD Strategy, Two Six Technologies (2021-2023)
• Acting Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization, Department of Defense (2019-2021)
• Principal Director for Cyber, Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (2019)
• Founding Director, Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center; DARPA Program Manager overseeing $175M R&D portfolio (2011-2019)

What Dr. Ragsdale could bring to his Board role at Cyberstar: His leadership in defining how the nation approaches cyber workforce readiness at scale, combined with deep expertise in workforce talent management, positions him to guide Cyberstar's mission of building comprehensive cyber workforce capability tracking for defense organizations.

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