White House Hands Cyber Oversight to DHS
July 9, 2010
| 4:29 PM
The Department of Homeland Security will, effective immediately, assume primary responsibility for making sure agencies comply with federal information security requirements, sidelining the Office of Management and Budget from administrative duties, according to a memo OMB and the White House cybersecurity coordinator released earlier this week.
The memo is an attempt by OMB and the cybersecurity office to quiet calls from Congress to overhaul how the executive branch manages information security in federal government, Nextgov.com reported.
OMB Director Peter R. Orszag and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt issued a memo Tuesday that outlines roles for OMB, the White House and DHS in ensuring federal agencies comply with the requirements of the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act.
According to the memo, DHS will exercise primary responsibility for checking agencies' compliance with FISMA, including continuous monitoring of information systems' security.
OMB, which previously oversaw most FISMA compliance, will be responsible for submitting the annual report to Congress, developing and approving the cybersecurity portions of the president's budget, overseeing agencies' use of funds, and coordinating with the White House on policy issues.
Schmidt will work with DHS to ensure agencies fulfill FISMA regulations and will coordinate cooperation among agencies.
"Everybody interprets things differently," Schmidt said on Thursday after a speech at a cybersecurity event in Washington hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. "We are looking to make sure there is clarity out there on stuff the people need to be doing . . . to be secure, which makes [them] FISMA-compliant."
But one former federal chief information officer who is familiar with the government's cybersecurity issues and asked to not be named, believes the memo is a response to Congress' call in a number of bills for the restructuring of cybersecurity oversight. To read more, click here.
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