Schmidt Says He Has Authority He Needs
The White House's new cybersecurity coordinator assured a roomful of technology and Internet stakeholders Wednesday that he has the authority he needs to better secure the federal government's networks, CongressDaily reported. Howard Schmidt, who started work at his post last week, said he is often asked, "Do you have the ear of the president? Is this being taken seriously in the administration? ...The answer is `yes.' "
Schmidt's appointment in December to become the nation's first White House cybersecurity coordinator came more than a half year after President Obama announced he would appoint such an official and pledged to make cybersecurity a key administration priority. The lag between Obama's pledge to tap a senior cybersecurity adviser and the appointment raised questions in the cybersecurity community about whether the issue was still a White House priority.
After his speech at the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net conference, Schmidt was pressed on whether he will have influence over budgetary decisions about cybersecurity. Schmidt said he doesn't believe he has to have control over a budget to make change. "If the president, the national security adviser, the national economic adviser says, 'Hey, we need these things,' things will happen," he said. To read more, click here. (Subscription required).
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Cybersecurity
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