[ISN] Hathaway's departure renews worries about cyberczar vacancy

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 01:31:13 -0500 (CDT)
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/08/05/web-obama-cyber-coordinator.aspx

By Ben Bain
FCW.com
Aug 05, 2009

The resignation of Melissa Hathaway, the Obama administration’s acting 
senior director for cyberspace, has brought renewed scrutiny on the 
administration's effort to secure the online world.

The news on Aug. 3 that Hathaway would be stepping aside on Aug. 21 came 
after months of speculation about whom President Barack Obama would pick 
to fill the permanent cyber coordinator position that he pledged in May 
to establish. That position remains vacant and some observers have been 
disappointed with the time it’s taken Obama to make his pick. Hathaway 
is not seeking the permanent role.

James Lewis, director of the Center for Strategic and International 
Studies’ (CSIS) technology and public policy program, said it’s not 
clear if there are any leading candidates for the job. The people the 
administration wants for the position don’t want the job, and the people 
who want the job, the administration doesn’t want, he said.

The Washington Post cited an unidentified former government official as 
saying that 30 people had been interviewed for the position in an 
article Aug. 4 that featured comments from the outgoing Hathaway. The 
article quoted Hathaway as saying, "I wasn't willing to continue to wait 
any longer because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the 
change."

[...]


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Received on Wed Aug 05 2009 - 23:31:13 PDT

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