In an article written by Kevin M. Nixon, he muses as towhether Melissa Hathway is the next Cybercrime Czar...Is She America’s New Cybersecurity Tsarina?
May 29, 2009 by ADMIN · 2 Comments
By Kevin M. Nixon, Information-Security-Resources.com Security Editor
Information Security Resources staff had received an advance copy of the official White House Press Release (05/29/2009)and was all ears today during President Obama’s East Room remarks onthe highly anticipated and long awaited release of the “CyberspacePolicy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information andCommunications Infrastructure”.
The report has become known as “TheHathaway 60-Day Report” in “homage” to Melissa Hathaway, the personPresident Obama picked as “Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace of theNational Security Council (NSC) and the Homeland Security Council(HSC)”.
Not only did the President bestow atitle too long to technically print on a normal sized business card,also he gave her a the shortest runway I have ever seen to assemblerecommendations, gain consensus, and publish a report for the ChiefExecutive.
Just pulling together all agencies,departments, stove-piped information while overcoming all the turfbattles can only be likened to attempting a huge worm wrestle.
Ms Hathaway accomplished the task anddelivered the goods and so everyone anticipated that the Presidentwould recognize her “get it done” work ethic and also announce from theEast Room today, her appointment as America’s Cybersecurity Tsarina.
However, everyone holding their breathin the East Room today probably passed out from lack of oxygen. ThePresident was blatantly and conspicuously silent on his appointment.
The President’s silence left everyonewondering “does she or doesn’t she” and left reports attempting to findany hints of the President’s plan. ISR think that we may be on tosomething. As POTUS stepped in front of the gathered experts, somewherein the back offices of the White House there was a shadowy figurehunkered over a keyboard waiting for the exact moment to press enterand publish an article on the White House Blog.
Could that person have even beensitting in the East Room audience with the President holding onto herthree Blackberry devices just waiting for President Obama to give thesecret word or phrase to “press the send” button?
We may never know, but President Obamadid acknowledge Melissa Hathaway at about the same time that an articleby her was posted on the White House Blog.
What is noticeable is in Ms Hathaway’sarticle is her title in the article’s by-line. Gone is “MelissaHathaway, Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace of the NationalSecurity Council (NSC) and the Homeland Security Council (HSC)”. Thenew by-line reads: Melissa Hathaway, Cybersecurity Chief at theNational Security Council.
Which still leaves us wondering andwaiting? Is the White House making new robes as the Catholic churchdoes when a new Pope is elected or has Ms Hathaway been appointed“Camerlingo” (1st runner up in a papal contest). Guess we will justhave to wait.
Melissa Hathaway’s Blog post “Securing Our Digital Future” is re-published here:
Melissa Hathaway, Cybersecurity Chief at the National Security Council, discusses securing our nation’s digital future:
Published: FRI, MAY 29, 10:00 AM EST — The White House Blog
The globally-interconnected digitalinformation and communications infrastructure known as cyberspaceunderpins almost every facet of modern society and provides criticalsupport for the U.S. economy, civil infrastructure, public safety andnational security.
The United States is one of theglobal leaders on embedding technology into our daily lives and thistechnology adoption has transformed the global economy and connectedpeople in ways never imagined.
My boys are 8 and 9 and use theInternet daily to do homework, blog with their friends and teacher, andemail their mom; it is second nature to them.
My mom and dad can read thenewspapers about their daughter on-line and can reach me anywhere inthe world from their cell phone to mine. And people all over the worldcan post and watch videos and read our blogs within minutes ofcompletion. I can’t imagine my world without this connectivity and Iwould bet that you cannot either. Now consider that the same networksthat provide this connectively also increasingly help control ourcritical infrastructure.
These networks deliver power andwater to our households and businesses, they enable us to access ourbank accounts from almost any city in the world, and they aretransforming the way our doctors provide healthcare. For all of thesereasons, we need a safe Internet with a strong network infrastructureand we as a nation need to take prompt action to protect cyberspace forwhat we use it for today and will need in the future.
Protecting cyberspace requiresstrong vision and leadership and will require changes in policy,technology, education, and perhaps law. The 60-day cyberspace policy review summarizesour conclusions and outlines the beginning of a way forward in buildinga reliable, resilient, trustworthy digital infrastructure for thefuture.
There are opportunities foreveryone–individuals, academia, industry, and governments–to contributetoward this vision. During the review we engaged in more than 40meetings and received and read more than 100 papersthat informed our recommendations. As you will see in our reviewthere is a lot of work for us to do together and an ambitious actionplan to accomplish our goals.
It must begin with a national dialogue on cybersecurity and we should start with our family, friends, and colleagues.
We are late in addressing thiscritical national need and our response must be focused, aggressive,and well-resourced. We have garnered great momentum in the last fewmonths, and the vision developed in our review is based on theimportant input we received from industry, academia, the civilliberties and privacy communities, others in the Executive Branch,State governments, Congress, and our international partners. We nowhave a strong and common view of what is needed to achieve change.
Ensuring that cyberspace issufficiently resilient and trustworthy to support U.S. goals ofeconomic growth, civil liberties and privacy protections, nationalsecurity, and the continued advancement of democratic institutionsrequires making cybersecurity a national priority.
Kevin M. Nixon, MSA,CISSP®, CISM®, CGEIT®, has testified as an expert witness before theCongressional High Tech Task Force, the Chairman of the Senate ArmedServices Committee, and the Chairman of the House Ways and MeansCommittee. He has also served on infrastructure security boards andcommittees including the Disaster Recovery Workgroup for the Office ofHomeland Security, and as a consultant to the Federal Trade Commission.
The Author gives permissionto link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawfulpurpose, provided attribution is made to the author and to Information-Security-Resources.com
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