Friday, February 10, 2012

Hathaway Opens Up About Cyber Job

October 14, 2009

President Obama's former senior cybersecurity adviser Melissa Hathaway, who resigned effective Aug. 21 after working for months on a comprehensive review of the government's ability to identify and thwart high-tech attacks, opened up about her experience in an interview with Federal News Radio. Hathaway said her decision to leave had as much to do with fixing her work-life balance as it did with not getting the cyber coordinator role Obama began talking about early in his tenure.

"I knew when the president gave his speech I wasn't going to be named," she said of the cyber post, which was mentioned in Obama's late May speech. "I helped put names on the list and establish evaluation criteria for the person... The person needs to have a strong background in not just national security policy, but also economic security policy." She said her impact from outside government can be meaningful and she has hung her own shingle.

Hathaway plans to work with cybersecurity industry players and with Harvard University and MIT on research and writing.

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Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


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Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.