[ISN] Cybersecurity Not A 'Command And Control' Effort

http://www.darkreading.com/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700567

By Kelly Jackson Higgins
DarkReading
June 17, 2010 

Cybersecurity initiatives will always be distributed efforts, which is 
what makes the cybersecurity czar's position so crucial, according to 
the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity director.

"This is not a command and control environment," says Philip Reitinger, 
who is director of the National Cybersecurity Center at DHS, in an 
interview today. "DoD has key responsibilities, DHS has key 
responsibilities, and so do the Department of Commerce and NIST, which 
is part of Commerce. And there are multiple entities in the private 
sector [with responsibilities as well]."

With the flurry of activity on Capitol Hill these days over 
cybersecurity legislation and the recent formation of the U.S. Cyber 
Command, the U.S.'s cybersecurity policy and efforts are getting 
difficult to pin down. But Reitinger says that's where Howard Schmidt, 
the Obama administration's cybersecurity coordinator, comes in.

"Cybersecurity has always been distributed and will remain distributed," 
Reitinger says. "You have to be able to work this in a highly 
distributed way with full coordination, and that's why Howard's office 
is so important." 

[...]


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