When President Obama speaks on cybersecurity Friday morning at 10:55 (Eastern time), he’ll be doing a lot more than just announcing who will be the new “cybersecurity czar” and where they will fit into the White House hierarchy. (He may not actually announce who the czar is for a few days, according to the Wall Street Journal.)
He’ll be setting the stage for a new era in America’s cyber-defense, which has been woefully inadequate for many years. According to my White House contact, simultaneous with the speech, the White House will release electronically the report and plan that resulted from the Obama administration’s 60-day audit of US cybersecurity.
That report should provide the strategy, if not all the details, about how the cyber-czar, and the federal government itself, intend to meet the challenge.
For example, it should provide more information about how the government plans to partner with private industry in securing the nation’s infrastructure, an alliance essential to any effort to thwart hostile foreign governments, terrorists, and cybercriminals. The report may, or may not, also address the consumer privacy concerns raised by such a public-private alliance.
Those concerns are sure to be a hot topic most of next week, at this year’s biggest privacy and security conference, CFP2009, which will be covered on this blog by my colleague, Senior Editor Donna Tapellini. Are you concerned about online privacy? Let us know and be sure to follow her coverage here next week.
Another important question that the report might answer, but I suspect won’t: How and when will the federal government restore the $14 million in funds for cybersecurity research that were cut at the last minute from the economic stimulus Congress passed this winter? Surely those funds will be desperately needed in our battle against cyberterrorists.
What do you think? With American consumers losing billions each year to cybercrime, isn’t it worth $14 million to help defeat the criminals?
As for the cyber-czar soon to be crowned, I don’t think the position’s title or reporting responsibility is quite as critical as some in the press have made them out to be. If the new appointee has the ear of the President, and if Obama is as committed to cybersecurity as he appears to be, I think the new cyber boss can be effective regardless of title or hierarchical position.
You may beg to differ. Let me know. Do you think a determined cyber-czar with close ties to the President can be effective, even in the face of the inevitable turf wars that will surely continue between the National Security Agency, Defense Department, Homeland Security, and other federal agencies?
Follow the action and commentary as it happens: I will be covering the President’s speech live from the White House starting at 10:55 AM (EDT), at my Twitter address (@JeffreyFox) then providing further blog coverage right here after the speech is over.
See you in the White House East Room! —Jeff Fox
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