From Dark Reading

Former Bush administration official will head U.S. cybersecurity initiative for Obama, but experts question whether the post has much power

After months of speculation about who and when the U.S. would get the cybersecurity czar promised by President Obama in May, the administration today officially appointed Howard A. Schmidt to the much-anticipated post of White House cybersecurity coordinator.

Schmidt, who most recently served as president and CEO of the international nonprofit Information Security Forum and was previously chief information security officer at eBay and at Microsoft, said in a statement that he looks forward to bringing to the table all stakeholders in efforts to better secure U.S. networks and systems. He will work with the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.

"The president has directed me to focus on several priority areas: developing a new comprehensive strategy to secure American networks, ensuring an organized, unified response to future cyber-incidents; strengthening public-private partnerships here at home and international partnerships with allies and partners; promoting research and development of the next-generation of technologies; and leading a national campaign to promote cybersecurity awareness and education," Schmidt said in a video statement on his post announcement. "Because ultimately no one -- not government, not the private sector, not individuals -- can keep us safe and strong alone." [More...] [Comments...]