[Infowarrior] - With Schmidt in place, who's his deputy?

Sat Dec 26 02:11:15 UTC 2009

With Schmidt in place, who's his deputy?

December 23, 2009	

By Jason Miller
Executive Editor
FederalNewsRadio
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=110&sid=1848282
Now that Howard Schmidt has officially been appointed the cyber  
coordinator, the next guessing game is how he fills out his staff.

Multiple sources say the next piece to the puzzle could be a staff  
member from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Sources say  
Sameer Bhalotra is a leading candidate to be deputy cyber coordinator.

"Sameer interviewed with the White House earlier this year, but I  
don't think a decision has been made," says one source, who like the  
others requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of personnel  
announcements.

According to his bio, Bhalotra received an undergraduate degree in  
Physics and Chemistry from Harvard University and a doctorate in  
Applied Physics from Stanford University.

He also worked with the CIA in the science and technology directorate  
and developed new cross-community technology programs as a founding  
member of the science and technology staff within the Office of the  
Director of National Intelligence.

Bhalotra also was a member of the Commission on Cybersecurity for the  
44th Presidency.

Bhalotra has been with the Senate Intelligence Committee since 2007  
where he has focused on cybersecurity and leads the committee's cyber  
study team.

"Sameer knows how to get stuff done," says another source. "That is  
the type of person that this position needs."

Attempts to reach Bhalotra for comment were unsuccessful and an e-mail  
to the White House seeking comment on the deputy position went  
unanswered.

"I know Sameer very well and if he was picked he would be solid  
appointment," says Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.).

"But I have heard nothing official whether there will be deputy. But  
if the White House picks Sameer or someone similar that would be  
positive development."

Melissa Hathaway, the former senior director for cyberspace for the  
National Security Council under President Obama, says the cyber  
coordinator's office is set up to have a coordinator, a deputy and  
several senior directors who would come from agencies on detail.

No matter who becomes the deputy, Schmidt and his staff have plenty of  
work to do.

Hathaway, who now is president of Hathaway Global Strategies, says she  
would advise Schmidt to get to know the agencies by understanding  
their capabilities and where they need the most help.

She says he may want to start with the federal centers of  
cybersecurity excellence:

	• U.S. Cert at the Homeland Security Department
	• The FBI's National Cyber Investigative joint task Force
	• The National Security Agency's National Threat Operations Center
	• The Defense Department's Joint Task Force for Global Network  
Operations (JTF-GNO)
	• ODNI's incident response center
"I would advise him to visit those centers and know what they are  
doing and have a good operational understanding of what's out there,"  
she says. "He should know how the partnership is growing between the  
different departments and agencies."

Hathaway also says Schmidt should know the status of the short and  
long term goals detailed in the White House's 60-day cyberspace  
review. The administration issued the document in May, and Hathaway,  
who led the review, says work is ongoing to meet the milestones.

Schmidt also will have to do a lot of work on Capitol Hill, experts  
say. He will need to do more than understand more than 36 different  
pieces of legislation, but also get to know many more members who are  
interested in cybersecurity.

"He needs to understand the critical paths programs under  
Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), and help  
agencies with advocacy and championing of key programs in fiscal 2011  
budget," Hathaway says. "I think it will be important for him to have  
good understanding what is being discussed in each legislation and to  
start to present the view from the White House of what is important to  
the administration."

Mischel Kwon, the former head of the DHS's U.S. Cert and now a vice  
president of the public sector for security solutions at RSA, says  
getting the government on more solid ground should be among his top  
priorities as well.

But at the same time, Kwon says Schmidt needs to make two-way  
information sharing a major priority.

"It cannot just be industry giving to government, but government  
giving to industry too," she says. "They need to share information  
about attacks and threats affecting our networks and the Internet."

Kwon adds that one of Schmidt's biggest challenges will be ensuring  
consistent and clear communication and coordination.

"It will be important for him to figure out how best to govern  
security across the government, and how to work with chief information  
officer, chief information security officers, DHS and in the DoD  
space," Kwon says. "He also will have to figure out how best to work  
with the legislative and judicial branches, and go out to look at  
critical infrastructure. He will have to create priorities and  
industry will have to support him to create a collaborative  
environment."

And that collaborative environment is key to creating a better  
partnership between industry and government.

Liesyl Franz, the vice president for information security and global  
public policy at TechAmerica, an industry association, says Schmidt  
should push the public-private sector relationship must move beyond  
strategic.

"It's not how we work together when an incident occurs, but in the  
analytical phases as well," she says. "We need to work along the way  
on a sustained and ongoing basis."

Franz echoed many of Kwon's suggestions about making the relationship  
a two-way partnership.

"Industry does its job every day in fighting off attacks and  
protecting networks," she says. "The government is doing the same  
thing. Now that he is in place, he can galvanize the relationship into  
a concerted and integrated effort, and fully bring the resources to  
bear."

Franz adds that finally having a permanent cyber coordinator will make  
a big difference in the long term security of the government and  
industry.

"It's a great move to name Howard," she says. "It will be way for us  
to take a lot of steps in the New Year. And it's crucially important  
to have a cyber coordinator in the White House because ultimately the  
policy that comes from them is the policy of the land and  
cybersecurity needs to be part of that conversation."

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