[ISN] Bush's cyber chief calls national security initiative too secret

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090211_6858.php

By Jill R. Aitoro 
NextGOV
02/11/2009

Federal officials working to craft a national cybersecurity plan to 
protect government and corporate computer networks from attacks kept too 
much of the work secret, which led to criticism from those in government 
and industry unable to monitor progress, the Bush administration's head 
of cybersecurity told Nextgov.

Greg Garcia, who was appointed assistant secretary of cybersecurity and 
telecommunications at the Homeland Security Department in 2006, said the 
Bush administration plotted out a sophisticated, interagency program 
that was "extraordinary." But, he added, the White House kept the 
Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, which DHS designed to 
better protect computer networks by improving the way agencies managed 
information technology, too secret -- a criticism that many IT security 
professionals and consultants leveled at the program.

"There was too much classified, which was not helpful politically and 
not helpful in getting the word out," he said in an interview with 
Nextgov on Tuesday. "We had to walk that line between raised awareness 
of what was being accomplished and not letting out too much information 
that could cause us to be targeted. Still, too much was kept secret."

The Obama administration has not detailed a cybersecurity strategy, but 
on Monday it ordered a 60-day review of the government's cybersecurity 
programs and initiatives. Garcia doubts Obama will scrap Bush's 
cybersecurity strategy altogether, but it's not clear if it will 
continue in its present form.

[...]


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