President's Top IT Security Adviser To Resign

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Jei <jei () cc hut fi> 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52162-2003Apr18.html

By Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, April 18, 2003

White House cybersecurity adviser Howard Schmidt will resign from his
post at the end of the month, raising concerns about the Bush
administration's commitment to implementing its strategy for
protecting the nation's critical information infrastructure.

Several friends and close associates of Schmidt said he had informed
them of his plans to leave the White House. The former chief of
security at Microsoft Corp., Schmidt became chair of the President's
Critical Infrastructure Protection Board in February following the
departure of his predecessor, Richard Clarke.

Schmidt played a key role in drafting the administration's recently
released cybersecurity strategy, and has spent the last two years
building ties with the private sector in a joint effort to protect the
nation's most important information systems from cyber-attack. He had
been negotiating to become cybersecurity adviser to Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge, but his effort fell through, according to friends
and associates interviewed for this story.

Schmidt's imminent departure would leave the administration without a
high-ranking official solely in charge of cybersecurity, at a time
when many observers are criticizing the White House for shifting
attention and resources away from the issue.

"Industry understands this is an important issue. Congress and the
president have said [it is too], yet the department has no senior
level official working full-time on the issue," Clarke said. Failing
to appoint a cybersecurity adviser at Homeland Security "reflects a
total lack of intellectual understanding of the issue on the part of
the people working for Ridge," he said.

In January, the administration consolidated the work of five federal
cybersecurity offices into the Homeland Security Department, but it
remains unclear how those divisions will work together or whether they
have adequate resources to carry out their mission.

Full responsibility for cybersecurity matters currently rests with
Robert Liscouski, a former Coca-Cola executive who was recently named
assistant secretary of infrastructure protection at the Homeland
Security Department. Liscouski's portfolio includes both cybersecurity
and protecting the nation's vital physical assets from attack. Given
the scope of the physical infrastructure challenge, some observers
have said cybersecurity matters will be overlooked.

"The great irony here is that we have President Bush doing what
Clinton refused to do - namely giving cybersecurity incredibly high
prominence in naming a personal assistant to the president and issuing
a national cybersecurity strategy," said Harris Miller, president of
the Information Technology Association of America.

"Yet, a few weeks after the strategy's release, all of the leadership
(on cybersecurity) disappears. There are some very serious
consequences of that in terms of the lack of leadership, because a lot
of what needs to be done requires a full time cheerleader."

After Clarke's departure from the White House in February, the
administration announced that it was abolishing the Critical
Infrastructure Board and transferring its duties to the Department of
Homeland Security. That move did not eliminate Schmidt's role as White
House cybersecurity adviser, though it did eliminate his
responsibility for leading the board.

Schmidt declined to comment for this story. White House and DHS
officials did not return calls seeking comment.



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