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Congress Pressures Obama to Pick Cybersecurity Coordinator
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Shane McGlaun/Daily Tech
November 03, 2009
One of the many issues that President Barack
Obama is tackling is the security of our nation’s information
infrastructure. Cybersecurity is a big issue for the President and
his administration and steps are being taken to ensure that America
is safe from cyber attacks.
Obama has promised to hand
pick a cybersecurity coordinator for the federal government, but
as of now that position is unfilled. Despite the fact that the
important position of cybersecurity coordinator is unfilled, the
government is moving on with other cybersecurity plans. The NSA
recently announced that it would be spending $1.5 billion on a new
cyber defense data center.
Obama has previously said that
the cybersecurity coordinator is a position of “critical
importance” to secure the U.S. cyber infrastructure. He said
that the position would entail, “orchestrating and integrating
all cybersecurity policies for the government; working closely with
the Office of Management and Budget to ensure agency budgets reflect
those priorities; and, in the event of major cyber incident or
attack, coordinating our response.”
With the position
remaining vacant, members of Congress are starting to press Obama for
a choice. Co-chairmen of the House Cybersecurity Caucus,
Representative James Langevin, D-R.I., and Michael McCaul, R-TX have
said that they are “deeply concerned by the delay.”
Representative Ann Kirkpatrick from Arizona has also urged the swift
appointment of a cybersecurity coordinator.
InformationWeek
reports that the problem with having no coordinator is that there is
no nexus for government-wide cooperation and no authoritative voice
to speak on issues and support the national cybersecurity
initiatives. The position is being filled in the interim by Chris
Painter, who is on loan to the White House from the FBI. Painter
worked in cybercrime and cybersecurity issues at the FBI.
Names
that are said to be in contention for the position according to
sources include Microsoft’s Scott Charney, Frank Kramer, Howard
Schmidt, and Paul Kurtz. Painter is also said to be in contention for
the position as well.
_© 2009, DailyTech
