From Congress to cybersecurity, Langevin busy as ever

Probably the highest compliment that you can give a politician is to tell the person that he or she is not a politician.

Sounds weird, right?

Not when you tell the person that you think of them as a public servant, and not a politician.

That’s how I think of former Congressman Jim Langevin. 

Jim was not afraid to mix it up on occasion to defend his positions and his colleagues. But I never thought for one minute that he would put party above public service.

When he left his safe seat in the US House of Representatives in 2022 to fulfill his professional ambition in the field of cybersecurity and emerging technologies, Jim left behind an unparalleled 30 years of exemplary service to our state and nation.

We all know that his early ambition was to become a police officer. But it was a career that was cut short at the age of 16 when an accidental gun discharge left him paralyzed while serving as a Police Explorer for the Warwick Police.

The outpouring of support from Warwick residents and people throughout the state inspired him to go into public service.

It started with leaflets

Jim was raised in Warwick and attended Warwick schools, and then Bishop Hendricken High School, Class of ’83.   

It was during his years at Hendricken that Jim started his political career as so many would-be politicians (excuse me – public servants) do, dropping off leaflets door-to-door for then State Representative and soon-to-be Mayor Joe Walsh. 

After graduating from Hendricken, he attended and graduated from Rhode Island College and would later receive his Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University. 

In 1986, he officially started his political career when he ran for a seat in the State’s Constitutional Convention.

His election win would be the first of many.

Remarkably, he never lost an election but was surely tested by both primary and general election challenges in the years to come. 

In 1988, Jim was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing Warwick District 29 in the General Assembly, where he would serve for 3 terms.   His tenure was hallmarked by his leading the drive for the creation of Rhode Island’s “Rainy Day Fund”, which limited state spending to 98 percent of estimated revenue, placing two percent into a reserve fund. 

In 1994 Jim left his Assembly seat to run for Secretary of State, ushering in the age of advanced technology to the office. In 2000 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives 2^nd District, where he would serve 11 terms until retiring in 2023.

Jim was a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and was a founding member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Considered an expert on national security, Jim was a vocal advocate for our nation to develop more innovative technologies such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, software evolution, directed energy, electronic warfare and hyper sonics.

He was so interested in the field that he co-founded and co-chaired the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus. Again, remarkably, Jim authored the National Cyber Director Act, which called for a National Cyber Director at the White House, ensuring its prominence in national policy.

A champion for people with disabilities

As the first quadriplegic to serve in the US House of Representatives, Jim was a voice for people with disabilities and was instrumental in the passage of the ADA Amendments Act. 

Throughout his time in Congress, Jim was honored by countless organizations, receiving numerous awards including the General (Ret.) Michael V. Hayden Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service, the Christopher and Dana Reeve DC Legacy Award and the Association for Career and Technical Education Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Leaving Congress

Asked if it was a difficult decision to leave Congress with senior status, Jim replied, “It was time to leave.   It was time to do other things, and time to use my expertise in some way.”

He continued, “I accomplished many things that I set out to accomplish.  It was always my goal to give public service to the people of Rhode Island.”

Being a little introspective, he added, “travel started to take a toll on me.   It required a lot of travel back and forth (to Washington and elsewhere).  I wanted to come home.” 

Shortly after returning to home, Rhode Island College President Jack Warner invited Jim for lunch, and during the course of the conversation asked if he would like to come home to RIC and start a program for cybersecurity.

It wasn’t the first time he had had that kind of discussion.  Another “university in Rhode Island” also asked him about considering a similar position. 

So, Jim called Governor McKee for advice.

The choice was between heading a program that was turnkey, or one that was “ground up.”

The Governor’s advice?  “I support whatever you do, but RIC is a state school,” said McKee.

And the Governor went a step further.

He met with the Speaker and the Senate President and together they pledged to amend the state budget to get the new “Institute for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies” at Rhode Island College off the ground.

They pledged $2 million in initial funding.

The Institute would be housed in the college’s School of Business, headed by Dean Marianne Raimondo (sister of our former Governor).

Fulfilling a need, answering a threat

According to Jim, “cybersecurity is now one of the fastest growing programs on campus, with both a cybersecurity major and minor, as well as a major and two minors in artificial intelligence.”

They are also breaking ground on a new facility on campus to house this growing curriculum. 

I, of course, had to ask the question.

Did he miss politics?  (though colleges certainly have their own brand of politics!)

“I still enjoy politics and government, but I don’t miss being in the middle of it.  There’s a time and place for everything,” he said.

Jim continued, “Now I’m helping to educate.  I can’t think of a better way to spend time.   There’s such a huge need for cyber professionals and defenders.   There are five-hundred thousand jobs (in the field) that go unfilled every year.”

Jim is also a strategic advisor to Paladin Capital Group, which invests in early-stage cybersecurity, AI and technology companies.

Now that he’s back home doing what he chooses to do, the Distinguished Chair of the Institute for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies may have his eye on the future, but he certainly didn’t forget his past and the people that got him there.

You will see some of his former, trusted staff members in the Institute’s orbit as media and public relations consultants, including former aides Seth Klaiman, Lindsay Russell and Tim DelGuidice. 

He also keeps in touch with many of the dozens and dozens of aides he worked with in his 30 years of government service.

 I can’t imagine how he has kept the pace.

With challenges to do the basic things you and I take for granted, he has never let those challenges slow him down.

He attended every event he could.  Not only his official duties as a Member of Congress or Secretary of State, but the countless dinners, birthday parties, groundbreaking ceremonies and sharing the grief of families that just lost a loved one. 

And he did it in a bipartisan nature.

 The best way to describe Jim’s career in government is to end with a quote from Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul.  

He said, “I never saw him as a Democrat or Republican.  He was just a guy that really cared about the country, cared about national security policies of the country, and just wanted to get good things done.”