Enhancing US Cybersecurity

March 6, 2008 By BobGourley

Dhs_logo A handful of articles have been written about the government’s Cyber Initiative. Reportedly this is an initiative to enhance the security posture of the nation. One recent one from UPI is at: Einstein and U.S. Cybersecurity.

As an outsider now, I’d like to point out a few observations regarding what I’ve seen in the press on the Cyber Initiative:

- The Einstein program is one element of this initiative. It is a way to enhance the security of US government networks.

- This type of program had previously been hard to implement because of organizational issues. But those have been resolved.

- The devil is in the details on programs like this, but leaders like Scott Charbo can ensure all the details are taken care of.

And a few opinions:

- Leaders like Scott Charbo rank among the greatest technologists in our profession. He has a proven track record of continuously improving IT enterprises while dealing with conflicting guidance, flat budgets, unfunded mandates and incredible demands for IT functionality. His key staff at DHS CIO have similar qualities. DHS CISO Bob West, for example, has worked wonders in instituting a security culture and building an organization-wide team.

- From time to time, probably for political reasons, or maybe to sell papers, the trade magazines that serve the federal space will interview someone who wants to take pot-shots at the DHS IT enterprise. Articles like that have little credibility with me. The way to find out what is really going on and what really needs to be done is to ask the DHS CIO and CISO, not an outsider with no ability to assess.

- The movement of Scott Charbo to be the Deputy Undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate is great for DHS, for the Federal Government, and for the Nation.

- The Einstein program will succeed and will be a positive factor in our nation’s ability to use IT to serve its mission.

So, in my view, although I would never say DHS is a perfect IT enterprise (there is no such thing), I don’t mind stating where I stand. The leaders to listen to when it comes to how to improve the enterprise are the DHS CIO and CISO and of course their CTO, not the hecklers in the peanut gallery.