When Amit Yoran last week became the third cybersecurity chief to leave his post in less than two years, most folks barely noticed.
What with the baseball playoffs, the sexual exploits of Scott Peterson and the political silly season, other things apparently occupied their attention.
Yoran was appointed director of the National Cyber Security Division in September 2003. Essentially, he was charged with protecting the nation's computer networks from attack. Last year's presidential commission on how to secure cyberspace offered several recommendations, and Yoran was supposed to implement the findings.
A highly regarded technologist who once worked for Symantec, Yoran's success depended upon real buy-in from the Department of Homeland Security.
But things began to go wrong very quickly. First, his office got folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Then he wound up reporting to Robert Liscouski, who has the less-than-awe-inspiring title of assistant secretary for infrastructure protection.
What Yoran really needed was a direct pipeline to Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary. His title also should have been upgraded to the assistant-secretary level. Instead, he was left without the pull to make things happen in Washington.
My guess is that his resignation will only add to Silicon Valley's existing frustration with the government's perfunctory approach to cybersecurity.
There's a pattern here. Both previous cybersecurity czars, Richard Clarke and Howard Schmidt, urged the government to move faster to combat the threat to the nation's information infrastructure. But whatever progress has come has been at a snail's pace.
You can understand why the administration is not circling the wagons. Unlike Iraq or the economy, the state of the nation's Internet infrastructure won't be on many people's minds when they enter the voting booths Nov. 2. Out of sight, out of mind--unless, of course, the entire kit and caboodle comes crashing down because of an attack.
Until then, the Bushistas can continue to pursue a policy of benign neglect while pretending to be doing important work. It's great politics, and isn't that what this is really all about?
All this takes place at a time when the country is already on edge about all things related to security. An upcoming CNET News.com-Harris Interactive Poll, to be published later this month, reinforces the picture of a nation on edge. With less than a month left in the presidential campaign, however, the state of America's cyberdefense is missing from the national dialogue on what should be done.
Yoran was too polite to point fingers, but he made clear his displeasure by giving just one day's notice. The message is that when the subject turns to cybersecurity, the people running the country have other priorities.
Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.
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The message is that this administration says one thing and does another on a whole host of issues. Truly duplicitous, deceiving, and despicable. Liars...it needs to be said...often and louder.
Terrorists aren't as interested in taking down the Internet as CEOs of security software companies would have you believe... why should they be? Compared to a beheading, hearing about terrorists taking down a website or two just doesn't stack up.
http://nap.is-a-geek.org
If you have a Department of Homeland Security, and you are not willing to seal off the borders, there are bigger problems on your mind than some cyber-dork quitting.
In the government technical bureaucracy, technical right does not make for technical implementation might. It?s all about access, and access is the power to get things funded and done.
Yoran and the rest were not given a ?direct pipeline to Tom Ridge,? precisely to minimize any ?damage? their attempts at cybersecurity innovation might inflict upon the in-place, career bureaucrat ?$600 toilet seat? technical status quo.
Yoran may have been right, but he wasn?t in charge or funded. In government, the ORG Chart rules, and Yoran got rat holed below Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, Liscouski, a career Intel cop not an Intel techie.
The musical chairs in the Office of the Cybersecurity Czar work to immunize the entrenched bureaucracy against any blame or repercussions that would follow ?the entire kit and caboodle?crashing down because of an attack.? In government ?blame game speak? it would be Yoran, Clarke and Schmidt who were to blame because they were ?cut and runners.?
Pretending to be doing important technical work, while pursuing a policy of benign neglect, are what the Bushistas and Clintonistas before them, do and did. It?s great bureaucratic politics, and is what Big Government is really all about.
The reason ?America's cyberdefense is missing from the national dialogue? is because there is nothing to talk about. ?Nuff said.
2004 I'm greatly concerned that I may not be able to
vote for him in 2004. My concern stems from the fact
that the administration has failed to get help for the FBI
who have more than 100,000 unread intercepted
messages, the lack of cooperation caused resignation
of 3 Cyber managers, and the lack of leadership by
Condoleza Rice. This on top of official reports that we
invaded Iraq on misinformation that the President was
warned was tainted, insufficent number of troops
lacking body armor and outdated Hummers, all this
leads me to wonder do we stay the course with a
leadership that has flopped, or do we change to a CEO
that offers hope of getting major powers to realize that
they too have a responsibility to end the Iraq quagmire?