[Infowarrior] - WH to name Schmidt Cybersecurity Advisor

[Richard Forno]

News Alert
07:20 PM EST Monday, December 21, 2009

White House expected to name new cybersecurity coordinator

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122103055.html

President Obama expected to name former Bush adviser cybersecurity czar
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 21, 2009; 7:16 PM


Seven months after President Obama vowed to "personally select" an  
adviser to orchestrate the government's strategy for protecting  
computer systems, the White House is expected to name a former Bush  
administration adviser to the job as early as Tuesday.

Howard A. Schmidt, who was a cyber adviser in President George W.  
Bush's White House, will be Obama's new cybersecurity coordinator,  
according to two sources with knowledge of the move who spoke on the  
condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the  
record.

The White House did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.  
Schmidt declined to comment.

Schmidt's mission is challenging: to coordinate cybersecurity policy  
across the federal government, from the military to the civilian  
agencies. The step comes as the Pentagon is getting a major new "cyber- 
command" unit up and running and the Department of Homeland Security  
is working to improve its protection of civilian networks.

In May, Obama declared the nation's digital networks a "strategic  
national asset" and said protecting them would be a "national security  
priority." Creating a White House cybersecurity office, to be headed  
by a senior White House official, would be key to that effort, he  
said. "I'll depend on this official in all matters relating to  
cybersecurity, and this official will have my full support and regular  
access to me as we confront these challenges," he said from the East  
Room.

But his remarks were undercut by internal tension over how much  
authority the "cyber-czar" would have and to whom the official would  
report. In the end, White House economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers  
insisted that the new coordinator, who will be anchored in the  
National Security Council and report to the national security adviser,  
report to him as well, sources said. Summers argued that cybersecurity  
is also a matter of national economic security, they said.

Schmidt was chosen after an months-long process in which dozens of  
people were sounded out and many declined, largely out of concern that  
the job conferred much responsibility with little true authority, some  
of them said. Meanwhile, the cybersecurity chief at the National  
Security Council, Christopher Painter, has served as the de facto  
coordinator, trying to push ahead the plan 60-day cyberspace policy  
review plan unveiled by Obama in May. That plan's formulation was led  
by Melissa Hathaway, who resigned in frustration in August after  
delays in naming the cyber coordinator. She had been a contender for  
the position, which does not require Senate confirmation.

Schmidt served as special adviser for cyberspace security from 2001 to  
2003 and during that time shepherded the National Strategy to Secure  
Cyberspace, a plan that then was largely ignored. He left that job  
also frustrated, colleagues said.

Schmidt's résumé reflects experience in the private sector, law  
enforcement and government. Before he joined the White House the first  
time, he worked as chief security officer at Microsoft. After leaving,  
he became vice president and chief information security officer at  
eBay. He served in the Air Force from 1967 to 1983 in various roles,  
both active-duty and civilian, and headed the computer exploitation  
team at the FBI's National Drug Intelligence Center in the 1990s.

Today he is president of the Information Security Forum, a nonprofit  
consortium of 300 of the world's largest corporations and public  
sector bodies working to resolve cybercrime and cybersecurity issues.

"He has many of the qualities and connections that one would think  
would be good for the position," said a colleague who asked not be  
identified in order to speak candidly. "He is a team player. I don't  
have high expectations for that position as it is currently defined,  
so he's very possibly overqualified for it."

Staff researcher Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.