We don't yet know his or her name, but it seems pretty likely, from press reports that before the week is out, President Obama will name a cybesecurity czar to oversee U.S. cybersecurity policy. As I blogged last week, the release of a long-awaited strategic plan is also imminent.

I’ve just been contacted by the White House press office about the “roll out” of their new strategy, so I expect to have firmer facts, not just media rumors, to make sense of when the news finally does break.

Some of the maneuverings being written about in the press now may sound like inside-the-beltway dealing to most consumers, and it probably is some of that, but it is still of profound importance to our national security and the online security of all consumers. How this all plays out may well determine whether some tech-savvy terrorist is someday able to play havoc with, say, our power grid, and whether you and your family will continue to walk on eggshells and lock down your computer just to be able to web surf, shop online, and exchange e-mail.

The new cybersecurity chief, and the policies which follow his or her appointment, will determine whether dithering and political infighting will continue to allow cybercriminals and terrorists to have virtually free reign online, at all Americans’ expense, or whether this country’s considerable power to defend itself will finally be unleashed.

Do you think that a new strategy will be more effective that what has passed for cyber-defense for the past 8 years? What measures do you think government and industry need to take to protect both our national infrastructure and the American consumer?

I’d like to hear your views. —Jeff Fox