Last Friday, President Obama followed
up on a promise he made last July during a speech at Purdue University when, as then-candidate
Obama, he said "As President, I'll make cybersecurity the top priority that it
should be in the 21st century. I'll declare our cyber-infrastructure a
strategic asset, and appoint a National Cyber Advisor who will report directly
to me." In a speech at the White House on Friday morning, President Obama
declared that 21st century challenges can't be met without a digital infrastructure
and said that, "the world of cyberspace is a world we depend on every day."
I was encouraged to hear him say that the security of our nation's
infrastructure is a matter of America's economic competitiveness.
The President then went on to outline
the results of the 60-day review of cybersecurity in the federal government"
that Melissa Hathaway and her team completed in mid-April. The resulting
document, titled the Cyberspace Policy Review, is 76 pages of how the
federal government is going to take a leadership role in "anchoring and
elevating leadership for cybersecurity-related policies at the White House."
While he didn't name the "Cyber Czar"
during the press conference, it is the number one item in the "Near-Term Action
Plan" of the Cyberspace Policy Review and importantly, the document calls for
the White House to lead the way forward. How's that for leading with your
chin? I also think it was incredibly telling that the President plans to
include staff to address privacy and civil liberties. In fact, he
specifically called out that the plan would not include monitoring private
sector networks.
What does it mean? From my view
in the cheap seats, I'm ecstatic just to see security getting such high-level
visibility. We've been anticipating the president's actions for a while
now and from my perspective, it's very good news to see him follow through.
I plan to spend some time analyzing
the Cyberspace Policy Review document and provide my perspective on it in a few
days. If you've already read and digested it, I'd love to hear your
thoughts.
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