The Public Eye with Eric Chabrow

Cyber Exits Lamented Coast to Coast

Cyber Exits Lamented Coast to Coast

Concerns over the departure of several key federal cybersecurity leaders isn't limited to those in the nation's capital; the echoes from last week's announcement that acting senior director for cyberspace Melissa Hathaway and U.S.-CERT director Mischel Kwon will leave their jobs reverberates in the hinterland, too, if you consider Sacramento, Calif., the hinterland.

Mark Weatherford, California's state director of information security, says he regrets Kwon's resignation revealed Friday because it appears the momentum toward a more serious approach to cybersecurity that came from a speech by President Obama is late May may be waning.

(Click here Listen to an interview with Weatherford.)

Writing in his blog, Weatherford wrote that rumors of political interference in cybersecurity policy began to surface as Hathaway's so-called 60-day review of federal cybersecurity posture stretched beyond 90 days. And, he points out, even when a report of the review was issued, the expectation that the president would appoint a senior IT security adviser didn't occur, and a cybersecurity coordinator has yet to be named.

"There has been a lot of turmoil over the past few years in the cybersecurity community at the federal level with among others, Amit Yoran (former Homeland Security cybersecurity division director and U.S.-CERT director), Greg Garcia (for DHS assistant secretary of cybersecurity and communications), Rod Beckstrom (former National Cybersecurity Center director) and now Ms. Hathaway and Ms. Kwon moving on. Mischel is the fourth director of U.S.-CERT in the past five years. These are all good people and the list of those rumored to have turned down the new cybersecurity chief job is equally impressive."

Weatherford asks some important questions the White House has declined to answer.

"Why is the federal government having such a hard time with cybersecurity leadership? Is the job not defined well enough? To many masters to serve? No authority over funding? Probably a little of each.

"Another reason might be that you can't just sprinkle pixie-dust on someone and make them a cybersecurity expert and on the other hand, most cybersecurity people are better at understanding technology than politics. Whatever the reason, it's starting to look like more business as usual in Washington."


About the Author

Eric Chabrow

Eric Chabrow

Retired Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity

Chabrow, who retired at the end of 2017, hosted and produced the semi-weekly podcast ISMG Security Report and oversaw ISMG's GovInfoSecurity and InfoRiskToday. He's a veteran multimedia journalist who has covered information technology, government and business.




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