White House Names First Cyber Security Chief

Thursday evening, the White House named Retired Brigadier General Gregory J. Touhill the first ever Federal Chief Information Security Officer.

He will also lead the team to carry out periodic cyberstat assessments to evaluate whether the implementation plans meet specific goals. Currently, Schneider is the Director for Cybersecurity Policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House.

Over the last several months, the Obama administration has shown its dedication to leveraging and working alongside technical talent to improve national security, even meeting with top executives in Silicon Valley to discuss the sector’s role in fighting foreign and domestic threats.

Touhill’s appointment, which was first reported by Reuters, comes as the cybersecurity of the federal government has been increasingly scrutinized. The president’s fiscal year budget proposal for 2017 called for $19 billion to boost cybersecurity.

As the position is a political one, Touhill, who will take office later this month, may be replaced in January next year if Obama’s successor decides to do so.

Schneider now serves as the director for cybersecurity policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House, where his remit is the development and oversight of cybersecurity policies to protect government data, networks, and systems.

It’s envisioned the CISO “will play a central role in helping to ensure the right set of policies, strategies, and practices are adopted across agencies and keeping the Federal Government at the leading edge of 21st century cybersecurity”. Along with the installation of a federal CISO, CNAP included plans to create the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, to run a cybersecurity awareness campaign, and to encourage Americans secure their online accounts.

USA intelligence officials suspect Russian Federation was responsible for breaches of Democratic political organizations and state election systems to exert influence on the November 8 presidential election.

It is thus far unclear how Touhill would work with the U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., which was formed in 2010 and exercises significant influence over U.S. cyber defenses.