[Infowarrior] - Hathaway to Head Obama Cybersecurity Post

[Richard Forno]

Hathaway to Head Cybersecurity Post
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123412824916961127.html

By SIOBHAN GORMAN
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will tap a top aide to President  
George W. Bush's intelligence director to head his cybersecurity  
effort, according to government officials familiar with the decision.  
An announcement is expected as early as Monday.

The appointment of Melissa Hathaway, a former consultant at Booz Allen  
Hamilton, is the president's first major decision on cybersecurity.  
She will lead a review of the government's efforts to secure computer  
networks against spies, terrorists and economic criminals and is  
expected to then head a new White House office of cybersecurity.

Ms. Hathaway helped develop a Bush administration cybersecurity  
initiative, which was expected to cost around $30 billion over five  
years, with spending this year of about $6 billion. Ms. Hathaway's new  
job is to carry out a 60-day review of the initiative and recommend a  
path forward.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama criticized the Bush administration  
for being too slow to address cyber threats and said he would create a  
"national cyber adviser" who would report directly to the president.  
"As president, I'll make cyber security the top priority that it  
should be in the 21st century," he said in a speech in July. He  
equated cyber threats with those of nuclear and biological weapons in  
a campaign ad he ran at the time.?

The decision to hold a review, however, suggests that any big moves  
are being put off for the time being.

After his election, Mr. Obama established a transition team dedicated  
to tackling cybersecurity. Some experts on the team were members of a  
national commission that recommended consolidating government cyber  
efforts into one office that would report directly to the president.  
It would remove major responsibilities from the Department of Homeland  
Security.

National Security Adviser James Jones, however, wanted more study of  
the issue and ordered an independent review, which resulted in the  
appointment of Ms. Hathaway to the White House post to conduct the  
review, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Hathaway will be a senior director at the National Security  
Council, which puts her at the same level as her predecessor in the  
Bush administration and a few rungs down from directly reporting to  
the president. Roger Cressey, a former top security aide in the  
Clinton White House, said he was disappointed the post isn't higher- 
level. "They need a nationally known person to run cyber from the  
White House," he said. "Otherwise it's just old wine in a new bottle."

A senior intelligence official said the review is part of Mr. Jones's  
effort to reorient the National Security Council to address more  
comprehensively problems such as cybersecurity and climate change that  
span government agencies. Before joining the Obama administration, Mr.  
Jones was part of a group called the Project on National Security  
Reform, which is working with the administration on bridging agency  
divides on national-security issues ranging from terrorism to pandemic  
flu.

National Security Council spokesman Ben Chang said he couldn't comment  
on personnel decisions that haven't been announced.

Ms. Hathaway was one of a few trusted aides whom Mr. Bush's director  
of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, brought with him from Booz  
Allen Hamilton. Mr. McConnell left the McLean, Va., consulting firm  
for the top intelligence post in 2007.

At Booz Allen, Ms. Hathaway specialized in cybersecurity strategies.  
Mr. McConnell asked her to lead his cybersecurity study effort, which  
grew into the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative that  
President Bush started a year ago.