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| Homeland Security Cyber deputy hangs it up - Rooters | |
| 2013-04-10 | |
| SAN FRANCISCO (Rooters) - The second-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said she will resign shortly, ending four years as a champion of a civilian-controlled Internet. In an exclusive interview with Rooters, Jane Holl Lute, the sole deputy secretary at Homeland Security, said on Monday she would give notice this week and leave to pursue a role in international Internet affairs.
The order directs the civilian Department of Homeland Security to steer improvements in protections for private industry, instead of giving the lead to the military's NSA. The pre-eminence of Homeland Security in patrolling the Internet is a big change from when Lute arrived there. "The national narrative on cyber has evolved," she said. "It's not a war zone, and we certainly cannot manage it as if were a war zone. We're not going to manage it as if it were an intelligence program or one big law-enforcement operation." The participation of the military and intelligence agencies in monitoring the Internet has not been definitively resolved. The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee plans to consider a bill on Wednesday that critics say would allow direct sharing of company data with the NSA. Lute's planned exit follows the recent retirement of deputy under secretary for cyber security Mark Weatherford and others with expertise. "Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet and co-author of the core protocols for Internet transmission. "DHS can take advantage of some extraordinary talent at NSA, but it's wise for us to keep that under civilian management. That's the way our Constitution says it's supposed to work." Lute came to the department under Secretary Janet Napolitano from the United Nations, where she served as an assistant secretary-general supporting peacekeeping missions. She worked at the National Security Council under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and before that in SIGINT in the U.S. Army. Colleagues said her military background helped her stand up against defence officials, including NSA Director General Keith Alexander, as they pushed for a greater role. Speaking privately, these colleagues recalled a meeting in 2011 about expanding a Pentagon pilot program for sharing classified threat information among defence contractors and federal agencies. Lute would not allow it to be expanded unless Homeland Security took control, aides said, and ultimately she prevailed. "We needed to find a way to share information with the private sector" while preserving civil liberties, Lute said. Champ's executive order creates similar networks between the government and critical industries beyond defence, and the Department of Homeland Security again is in charge. Lute's supporters outside the government said they hoped her successor at the department also would make fighting for the agency's role in the Internet a priority. Lute said countries around the world are still grappling with how the Internet should be treated. Though the Pentagon once spoke of cyberspace as a domain to be "dominated," its language is more muted now. She said Homeland Security needs to attract and retain more highly skilled security experts. Its recruitment efforts have lagged behind those at the NSA, which has more cachet and a stronger reputation for technical ability. And she said it was "incomprehensible" that Congress has not yet passed broad legislation that would do more on cyber security than Champ's executive order. Recent Senate bills would give companies legal protection for sharing threat data with each other and with DHS. "We want to build the most secure cyber-economy on Earth," Lute said. "We know what we need to do for that to happen, and the inability of legislation to pass to this point is inexplicable." Inexplicable? She is talking about the US Congress, right? Lute said she was encouraged by some movement in the Congress in the past few months and is now more optimistic that a law would pass this year. From all indications, her departure appears to be a definite loss to the agency and the country. | |
| Posted by:Whesh Ulater7778 |
| #5 "Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf In the Chinese style? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-04-10 10:42 |
| #4 The aforementioned quote is from Skidmark's link. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-04-10 09:37 |
| #3 In at least one instance, according to investigators, a programmer failed to report a damaged iPhone, disposing of it on his own and replacing it out-of-pocket. The report posits that this behavior could pose a security risk. Why not stop making it a pain to do it through channels, then maybe it might be handled more securely. Of course, they won't look at what negative processes are in place to make it easier to dispose of it than replace it on one's own dime. However, lust for control and bureaucracy trump common sense security any day. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-04-10 09:36 |
| #2 Here we are... Redundant again, and wrong. Not DHS, just THE US ARMY! |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2013-04-10 01:49 |
| #1 Didn't we just see Cyber screw up by not having a current inventory count of deployed mobile devices? Seems the ax is falling where it should. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2013-04-10 01:33 |