New White House cybersecurity chief largely an unknown

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.csoonline.com/article/706824/new-white-house-cybersecurity-chief-largely-an-unknown

By Taylor Armerding
CSO
May 21, 2012

Named late last week to replace Howard Schmidt as the top White House 
cybersecurity adviser, Michael Daniel is a 17-year veteran of the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) and has been its intelligence branch 
chief for the past 11 years. But he has stayed largely under the radar, 
even in the cybersecurity community.

Brian Krebs, a well-connected former Washington Post reporter and author 
of the respected blog KrebsonSecurity, said he did not know Daniel or 
what his politics are.

Krebs is not alone. Several others told CSO they also know nothing about 
Daniel, but didn't want to be quoted. GovInfoSecurity's Eric Chabrow 
reported Monday that "some of the most-connected people in Washington's 
cybersecurity community [have] never heard of Michael Daniel."

That may be by design. Karen Evans, administrator for e-government and 
IT at OMB for the last five-plus years of President George W. Bush's 
tenure, told GovInfoSecurity that Daniel was not meant to be the public 
face of the administration, as she and Schmidt were. "Michael is an OMB 
careerist and we were very protective of them, so they could transition 
from administration to administration; that was their job," she says.

[...]


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