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United States Names its First Chief Information Security Officer

posted by martyb on Saturday September 10 2016, @02:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the responsibility-WITH-authority-and-funding? dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

US president Barack Obama has named the nation's first ever Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Brigadier General (retired) Gregory J. Touhill has accepted the gig. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications in the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security, where it was his job to work on "development and implementation of operational programs designed to protect our government networks and critical infrastructure." Along the way he opined that cybergeddon scenarios might be a bit overblown.

Tick the boxes for "relevant experience" and "doesn't fall for hype"!

The White House TEXT announcement of Touhill's appointment, penned by US CIO Tony Scott and cybersecurity coordinator J. Michael Daniel has the usual nice things to say about the new hire and say the job's goal is "to drive cybersecurity policy, planning, and implementation across the Federal Government."

Will the new CISO take immediate steps to shut down Diebold voting machines to safeguard the integrity of the upcoming American Presidential election?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @02:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @02:56PM (#399998)

    I wonder if and when the title "President of the United States" will be changed to "Chief Executive Officer".

    That said, here's hoping the appointed CISO makes some rational objective decisions and sets some good systems in place.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @03:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @03:38PM (#400004)

      I agree. This scapegoat... I mean.. Position... could set some great policies.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @04:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @04:03PM (#400009)

      I wonder if and when the title "President of the United States" will be changed to "Chief Executive Officer".

      Commander In Chief - of the Executive Branch - who rules by Executive Order - isn't obvious enough for you?

    • (Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday September 10 2016, @06:21PM

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Saturday September 10 2016, @06:21PM (#400060) Journal

      Hired another "manage up, no-op piss artist" like they did with Tony Scott for US CIO.

      I lived in the wake of Mr. Scott's destructive wake, on two occasions. Perfect for bland sycophancy with no real ability to execute, while lining vendor coffers.

      --
      You're betting on the pantomime horse...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @05:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @05:41PM (#400833)

      I wonder if and when the title "President of the United States" will be changed to "Chief Executive Officer".

      Is there a +1 depressing mod?

  • (Score: 2) by fishybell on Saturday September 10 2016, @03:59PM

    by fishybell (3156) on Saturday September 10 2016, @03:59PM (#400007)

    Maybe for next time, or the time after that, but whatever is in place now is what we'll have. Look how long it took Florida to replace their punch card system.

  • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Saturday September 10 2016, @06:09PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Saturday September 10 2016, @06:09PM (#400056)

    so, how much experience does this retired general have with technology? yep, we're super fucked.

    • (Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Sunday September 11 2016, @10:35PM

      by i286NiNJA (2768) on Sunday September 11 2016, @10:35PM (#400404)

      I came here to boo and throw tomatoes but I checked out his creds and this guy has a masters degree in CIS (In the 80s before it was cool), a bunch of related military experience, and for whatever it's worth the whole bag of typical random middle aged manager turned head of cybersecurity certifications.

      Not quite the blackhat kid turned proven CEO that we'd like but still much better than I expected.

  • (Score: 2) by Max Hyre on Monday September 19 2016, @03:53PM

    by Max Hyre (3427) <reversethis-{moc.oohay} {ta} {eryhxam}> on Monday September 19 2016, @03:53PM (#403809)
    Wouldn't it be nice if he recommended breaking up the NSA [schneier.com]. As Schneier points out, to have the intelligence operation and the cyberdefence group under one roof is counter-productive. The defense function should be laser-focused on finding and fixing exploits, with no regard to the intelligence people who say ``but that makes our lives harder''. Tough—making their lives easier guarantees insecurity for all.