White House Names Cybersecurity Czar
EmailABC News’ Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:
On the same day as reports that Citigroup may have been hacked, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan sent an email to members of the public, announcing that the President has chosen Howard Schmidt to be the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator.
Schmidt, an Air Force veteran, has worked for eBay, Microsoft, the FBI and was a cyber-adviser to President George W. Bush. The White House says he will have regular access to the President and will be a “key member” of the National Security Staff.
“Cybersecurity matters to all of us,” Brennan wrote. “Protecting the internet is critical to our national security, public safety and our personal privacy and civil liberties. It’s also vital to President Obama’s efforts to strengthen our country, from the modernization of our health care system to the high-tech job creation central to our economic recovery. Howard is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer security, with some 40 years of experience in government, business and law enforcement.”
The White House announcement was sent to those who signed up on the White House list to receive updates from the administration.
“The very email you are reading underscores our dependence on information technologies in this digital age,” Brennan writes.
The White House has also created this web video to describe Schmidt’s “background and approach to cybersecurity” in which Schmidt talks about his experience.
Asked for comment on Schmidt’s appointment, James Lewis, author of Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Technology and Public Policy Program, called it “a good move.”
The Obama administration, Lewis said, “has a lot of cyber security initiatives underway…and they need someone to make sure it all fits together. They also need to rewrite the 2003 National Cyber Strategy, and having someone to honcho that process and avoid recycling old ideas will be the big challenge.”
- Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
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Can we please have a Czar over all the Czars? I guess it would be called a Czar Czar.
Do I have to live on unemployment from now on … or can I have some more money please?
Posted by: Paul | December 22, 2009, 10:21 am 10:21 am
Keep growing that government.
Posted by: Huh | December 22, 2009, 10:41 am 10:41 am
Schmidt is a former Bush Administration appointee. Looks like Obama has finally realized that when real work needs to be done, political cronies just can’t hack it.
Posted by: RM | December 22, 2009, 10:45 am 10:45 am
I have been appointed czar over the czars!I am in training “CZAR 101″ and I will be explaining what my role is as soon as I have finished the coarse of course!!All I know now is That I am head CZAR and all Czars will report to me.If You have Questions direct them to Czar under the Czars At Czar.org.
Posted by: czar of the czars | December 22, 2009, 10:49 am 10:49 am
Any one who has taken a course in college in theoretical computer science should know that currently about 90% of the crytography in the world has been designed based on the assumption that P is not equal to NP. Whether P is equal to NP is still an open issue which no one knows the answer at this point. If some one can prove mathematically that P=NP, this person probably has a method of cracking at least 90% of the security systems all over the world. This is such an importanrt issue that Clay Mathematics Institute in Massachusette is rewarding $1 million to any mathematician who can settle this issue.
Posted by: DelegateMath | December 22, 2009, 10:51 am 10:51 am
Awww… Just what we wanted, another Czar for Christmas!
O-Oh, Czar of wonder, Czar of night
Czar with royal beauty bright…
Thanks, President Obama!
Posted by: The Audacity of Copenhagen | December 22, 2009, 10:52 am 10:52 am
Any one who has taken a course in college in theoretical computer science should know that currently about 90% of the crytography in the world has been designed based on the assumption that P is not equal to NP. Whether P is equal to NP is still an open issue which no one knows the answer at this point. If some one can prove mathematically that P=NP, this person probably has a method of cracking at least 90% of the security systems all over the world. This is such an importanrt issue that Clay Mathematics Institute in Massachusette is rewarding $1 million to any mathematician who can settle this issue.
Posted by: DelegateMath | December 22, 2009, 10:59 am 10:59 am
Huh? Another one?
Posted by: LongT | December 22, 2009, 11:03 am 11:03 am
More payback?
Posted by: LongT | December 22, 2009, 11:04 am 11:04 am
The pathetic Republican right – doesn’t matter what the President does, they ridicule him. Truly sad.
Posted by: tierra | December 22, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Why is ABC news so afraid of letting people know the website of Clay Mathematics Institute?
Posted by: DelegateMath | December 22, 2009, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
tierra…and I suppose the Left always treated Pres. Bush with the utmost respect?! Gimmee a break.
Posted by: s | December 22, 2009, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
ANOTHER CZAR? We are getting frighteningly close to a dictatorship!
Obama tells the congress what HE wants and it delivers in spite of over whelming public disapproval.
This dictatorship is self imposed unless we have the guts to do something about it. Just voting the 60 despicable Obama-serving senators out of office isn’t enough, we have to elect a new congress with enough guts and drive to repeal the disastrous actions of the current inhabitants of the Hill!
If the congress won’t listen on healthcare, it’s not going to listen on “cap and tax” either!
Posted by: Ed Taylor | December 22, 2009, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
More Czars? We still live in the U.S., don’t we?
Posted by: s | December 22, 2009, 3:09 pm 3:09 pm
ANOTHER CZAR? We are getting frighteningly close to a dictatorship!
_________________________________
Stop your ill-informed fear mongering!
Bush has almost exactly the same number of ‘czars’ as the current President.
Posted by: tierra | December 22, 2009, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
“”"Bush has almost exactly the same number of ‘czars’ as the current President.”"”"
Posted by: tierra
A bit less radical I am sure!
Posted by: lfrichar | December 22, 2009, 3:17 pm 3:17 pm
Should the Justice Department investigate ACORN?
Yes. 99% (257,755 votes)
No. 1% (2,067 votes)
I’m not sure. <1% (253 votes)
Total Votes: 260,075
Posted by: talk from sf | December 22, 2009, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
don’t forget that many people – INDEPENDENTS like me don’t like BUSH and OBAMA.
BUSH = WARS
OBAMA = WARS + HUGE DEFICITS + BIGGER GOVERNMENT + CHICAGO STYLE POLITICS + …
Posted by: talk from sf | December 22, 2009, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm
There is an upcoming conference that exclusively focused on cybersecurity – in fact, Melissa Hathaway who was formerly assumed to become the Czar will be a keynote speaker.
Posted by: Doug | January 6, 2010, 11:14 am 11:14 am