Private-sector IT execs see diminished cybersecurity role

A major DHS cyber security post remains vacant

By Dan Verton

July 21, 2003 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- This Friday marks the end of the 30-day period in which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hoped it would hire a leader for its cybersecurity division. But there are serious doubts about whether the DHS will be able to hire the right person this week or even in the foreseeable future.
According to the former top cybersecurity adviser to the president, a high-level source in the DHS and IT industry executives, many of the most qualified candidates have been turned off by what they perceive as the administration's surprising change of heart on cybersecurity.
"The elimination of the presidential position [of cybersecurity adviser] sent a message that the White House no longer cares about this issue," said Richard Clarke, former chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. "They will eventually find someone who will agree to do it anyway, but they will be so hamstrung that it will take at least a year to regain the capability that we had in 2001."


John Copeland, chairman and chief scientist at Lancope Inc.

Clarke is now chairman of Arlington, Va.-based Good Harbor Consulting LLC .
A former senior administration official who requested anonymity said many of the candidates who possess the skills necessary to do the job are senior executives in the private sector who are concerned about a lack of authority in a position that will require a significant amount of cross-agency collaboration.
In addition, many are wary of what the official characterized as "an axis of evil" comprising the National Economic Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) -- agencies that have sought to redirect the administration's attention to other priorities.
A senior DHS official, who also requested anonymity, said two candidates have been identified for the position and have said they are willing to accept the job. However, the official said that Robert P. Liscouski, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the DHS, seems to be holding out for a high-profile executive with impeccable qualifications.
The person who steps up to the challenge will likely do so out of a sense of duty and patriotism, not because of the way the DHS is managing the effort, according to a half-dozen senior IT industry executives interviewed for this story.
"For a person to take this job, they have to be comfortable with the laissez-faire approach toward IT security, which I'm not comfortable with," said John Copeland, chairman and chief scientist at Lancope Inc., an intrusion-detection system vendor in

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