Oak Street Blog

· Melissa Hathaway, who just completed a 60-day review of the government's cybsersecurity preparedness, said that while cybersecurity needs to be a shared private and public sector effort, the task of leading it "is the fundamental responsibility of our government."
· Hathaway stressed the need for greater collaboration between the private and public sector on cybersecurity matters because such a large portion of the critical infrastructure is owned by private companies.
· Having made no public comments during the past two months, Hathaway took center stage Wednesday 4/22 at the 2009 RSA Conference in SF to deliver a summary of her team's review of the country's cybersecurity policies and structures.
· Hathaway's report on the state of U.S. cybersecurity was delivered to President Barack Obama on Friday (4/24); she said the results should be made public in the coming days (4/29, nothing yet). It isn't known what if any recommendations might result from it.
· Hathaway is a former Bush administration aide who has been working as a cybercoordination executive for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She headed a multiagency group called the National Cyber Study Group that was instrumental in developing the Comprehensive National CyberSecurity Initiative which was approved by former President George W. Bush early last year.
· Hathaway may be front-runner for senior director for cyberspace and could then be granted authority needed to enforce cybersecurity practices across the government and the private sector.
· The review touches on every facet of government networks, including the missions of computer network defense, law enforcement investigations, military and intelligence activities, and how those intersect with information assurance, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, telecommunications policies and general critical infrastructure protection.
· Her team identified more than 250 needs, tasks and recommendations, and requested that government agencies identify new or existing requirements they may have. She added that her team connected with the security industry, academia, civil liberties and privacy entities, state governments and executive branches of government.
· While short on details, Hathaway's 30-minute speech stressed the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors in securing cyberspace, and in turn the economy, civil infrastructure, public safety and national security.
· Endorsing a viewpoint that's been gaining currency in the security industry, Hathaway called for a more direct White House role in coordinating national cybersecurity efforts.
· "Protecting cyberspace requires strong vision and leadership and will require changes in policy, technology, education, and perhaps law," she said. “It requires leading from the top: from the White House, to departments and agencies, state, local, tribal governments, the C-Suite, and to the local classroom and library.”
Commentary
· "Hathway called this a marathon," Kellerman said. "It's very important that they not change runners," in the middle of it.
· “There are now at least three camps involved in the decision that the president will make about control of cybersecurity,” James A. Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said:
o traditional national security policy analysts who are not focused on the cyberthreat;
o intelligence and military agencies that are seeking to consolidate power and influence over cyberpolicy;
o an influential group that has said stricter cybersecurity regulations could damage innovative Internet industries associated with Silicon Valley.