Newsletter Archives

• New Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt

  Posted on December 23, 2009 at 22:58 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  The mainstream press is full of articles about Howard Schmidt, the new Cybersecurity Coordinator for the Obama Administration.

  One guy – a guy you’ve read about on this site before – knew Howard before he was cooool. Rob Rosenberger, one of my favorite security gadflies, wrote a solid analytical piece on his VMyths blog, directed toward Schmidt just when he took over CERT, way back in February, 2005.

  Here’s what Rob has to say about Schmidt’s new job:

  It’s wrong to say ‘this cybersecurity job has no power,’ because that’s not what the president’s advisor needs right now. “Power” is irrelevant at this stage.

  The bureaucrats in D.C. lost sight of their true mission in the late 1990s when they first started fighting over cyber-turfs & cyber-budgets. The federal bureaucracy needs to nitpick over its political apparatus. As such, it needs someone to guide the political apparatus.

  This explains why other people resign from the job in frustration, and why many others refuse to even take the job. They want to steer cyber-security initiatives when in fact they really need to guide the political apparatus. Schmidt is one of the very few who realizes this.

  And he’s willing to take on such a thankless duty! This is why I’m his #1 unabashed fan.

  Here’s the kicker. Schmidt will never get the credit he deserves for guiding the political apparatus — someone else down the road will take all the glory for “finally” steering all those federal cyber-security initiatives we keep hearing about.

  Right on, Rob.

  Other Howard Schmidt, Rob Rosenberger