Slashdot Mirror


Cyber-Security Czar To Be Named

The Washington Post and everybody else is reporting that on Tuesday President Obama will name Howard A. Schmidt as cyber-security czar. Schmidt was an advisor to President Bush on cyber-security matters. The Post rehearses the reasons why the Obama administration has had difficulty in finding someone for the post, and notes that the turf battles did not start in this administration: "Schmidt was chosen after a long process in which dozens of people were sounded out. Many declined the post, 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 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 a cyber-coordinator. She had been a contender for the position... Schmidt served as special adviser for cyberspace security from 2001 to 2003 and shepherded the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, a plan that then was largely ignored. He left that job also frustrated, colleagues said."

6 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Here comes XKCD by readthemall · · Score: 4, Insightful
  2. Re:What's next by ddxexex · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Freedom Fuhrer" has a cooler ring to it...

  3. Scapegoat by 2gravey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Funny, they had to give the job back to the last guy who had it because no one else would take it. I wouldn't take it either, because that guy is going to get strung up by the angry mob when the inevitable Chinese cyber-strike occurs.

  4. It's not even practical by MikeRT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Each federal department behaves differently. Agencies like the various DoD support and intelligence agencies, not to mention the CIA which is its own separate agency unto itself from any department, are not going to let the yahoos from Homeland Security or Justice tell them what to do or even be in on the conversation about how they organize and communicate, especially with regard to classified information.

    A cyber-security czar who cannot command the CIA and DoD agencies is quite literally one with no practical authority since those groups are the majority of what matters with real, important IT security in the federal government.

  5. Re:Just in time for Cristmas! by isama · · Score: 3, Funny

    In soviet russia You get rid of czar!
    In kapitalist america Czar gets rid of YOU!

  6. everyone suffers for the crimes of a few, always by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    if there were no laws against pseudoephedrine, you'd have more meth makers, and all of the society wide suffering that goes with that. the fact you can't buy pseudoephedrine is a different kind of suffering, but a smaller scale of suffering than not having the law around

    life is not about black and white choices, its about shades of grey.you examine the issue in a vacuum, without the context of the negatives of your other choices, and this makes you have these hysterical opinions

    and you NEED health insurance. even 21 yo marathoners have heart attacks and broken legs. if you believe you don't need health insurance, you have some sort of god complex, and then you definitely need mental health coverage

    as for not affording it, you can't afford NOT to have it

    as for making you pay for it: why force people to pay taxes? why not make it voluntary? because people are fucking irresponsible, and they won't pay for taxes, health insurance, or a whole bunch of other things they need but are usually too stupid to understand why they need it. so you NEED to force them because if given a choice, people won't do the right thing. which is pay your fucking taxes and pay your fucking health insurance. you HAVE to, because it is your RESPONSIBILITY as a member of SOCIETY from which you derive BENEFITS

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it