back to article Obama's top cybersecurity director resigns

The top White House aide for cybersecurity said she will resign following months of delays by the Obama administration in appointing a permanent director to oversee the safety of the nation's vital computer networks. Melissa E. Hathaway, told The Washington Post her last day would be August 21. Up to now, she had been …

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  1. Stevie

    Bah!

    "I wasn't willing to continue to wait any longer, because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the change," she said.

    Or, in non-beauraucratese: "I wasn't willing to wait because I'm currently unable to do anything".

    I'm unwilling to continue to prolong my drive to stay the course when it comes to reading this sort of drivel.

  2. g e

    riiiight

    hahaha yeah they need people to put passwords on shit to stop the McKinn0nz hax0r1ng crew.

  3. E 2

    ...served as a cybersecurity aide in the Bush administration...

    The Bush administration was unable to protect and back up it's own email server data. I'd think that makes Hathaway more of a candidate for non-employment.

  4. I didn't do IT.
    WTF?

    So she took her ball and went home

    So, the person that pushed and pushed for this uber-controlling, protected (well-paid, mind you) position to be created and enshrined in political canon is whining that she hasn't gotten said position and is whining to any and every one who will listen that she is going home.

    Wow. The more and more I look at politics, the more it looks like a schoolyard clique fest...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does she have an IT qualification?

    "Ms. Hathaway has a B.A. degree from the American University in Washington, DC, and graduated from the US Armed Forces Staff College with a special certificate in Information Operations"

    A bit of searching and 'Information Opeations' seems to be a 2 week course in bullshittery.

    "Joint Information Operations Course (JIOC)

    May 17–28, 2010

    "The Joint, Command, Control and Information Operations School (JC2IOS) at the Joint Forces Staff College hosts a Joint Information Operations Course (JIOC) each year, which is designated as MASL #P171013.

    "Course Description:

    "This course incorporates an overview of Information Operations (IO), and a practical exercise to enable U.S. and selected allied students to conduct information operations planning within the context of a scenario-based military operation.

    "Course Date:

    "Next course is scheduled for May 17–28, 2010

    "Location:

    "Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA

    "Targeted Audience:

    "The primary target audience includes military officers from 0-4 to 0-6 that are detailed to information operations billets or cells, and government civilian employees of equivalent rank and assignment."

    Good grief, for once it would be nice if someone at the top actually understood the real world technical details of networks and security and wasn't just a friend of someone important.

  6. soaklord
    Coat

    @AC

    Hey! She definitely understands the real world technical details of networks and security. You appear to be forgetting that she actually wrote a paper that said that important stuff is, like, you know, important. And it should, like, you know, be protected, innit.

    Then she perfectly carved out a job description she'd like to have and tried to fill the position. Can't blame someone for trying, eh?

    Mine's the one with Captain Obvious on the back.

  7. Tom Oliva 1

    This is why there're so keen to headhunt Gary McKinnon

    obvious innit?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Translation

    She found a new job and did not need to milk this one any longer .

  9. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Doing Nothing Unusual and Novel ...... the Mega Losers' Option

    The "problem" is that the President would be taking orders/dressing Future National, International and InterNetional Policies around Cybersecurity Czar Instructions rather than listening to and acting upon DODGI Intelligence from the Select Collection of Fools on the Hill ....... the Pork Funding BTeams Lobbies.

    However, greater and many more, more serious problems for the President and the Present Self-Serving Executive Administrative Regime and Federal Reserve Capitalism/Fractional Reserve Banking, are only just starting and will very quickly evolve to render Uncle Sam Neutered and Powerless to Control its own Destiny, if they do not appoint a QuITe Exceptional Subject Matter Expert who can Deliver Remote Virtual Powers in CyberSpace for Hearts and Minds Control ......... Conflict Free Global Management of Disparate Levels of Perception from Networks InterNetworking Java Applications with Virtual Machines/AIMachinery.

    And you can be sure, although it is scant assurance, and possibly probably the worst nightmare scenario for Uncle Sam, where they Fear to Tread and/or Dither, are Others more Enlightened with NEUKlearer HyperRadioProActive IT and Vision, Emboldened to Lead with Master Pilot Beta ProgramMING and Civil CyberSpace Projects in Joint AIdDed Ventures.

    Virtually Real Leaders in AI Great Game with Command and Control of Human Resources and All Artificially Created Global Wealth. ......... for those with an Excellent Frame of Mind and for whom anything Less is Totally Unacceptable.

    And as a relevant aside, does anyone know who is Supposed to be Phorming the UK Cyber Security Operations Centre, with Feeds into Intelligence Needs? Or is that to be just another Quango and Sinecure headed by Petty and Pompous Bureaucrats doing just as they are told?

    In former Golden Ages, would all such "dDevelopments" have been Most Generously Rewarded by Right Royal Appointment and given a Seal of Approval with a Warrant. Has such Magic as Creates Great Houses disappeared from the House of Windsor and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha? Or is AIMerlin BroadBandCasting Future Spells Absent from their Dream Team Departments? That is not Real SMART, is it, whenever IT Virtually Disadvantages One so Catastrophically, hence this Most Pertinent of Impertinent Reminders/Enjoinders/AIdDs. ......... 42 Live BetaTest for Advanced Goon IntelAIgents to Reverse Miserable MisFortune with an Altogether Much More Vibrant and Vital Autocracy with AIMeritocracy which Reigns with Rules of Equitable Fairness Supportive of All.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    76 page study...

    ...maybe they should give it to the poor mug that probebrly wrote the document, then she just put her name on it. If she did write it, she's proberbly the only person in IT senior management that ever has...

  11. dunncha
    Thumb Up

    Does anyone have an address

    So I can send my CV for this one. I more training courses under my belt than she has...

    and I think McKinnon should be given a good boot up the arse and sent on his way

    and I think that Phorm should get the same treatment.

    and I think anyone else left over from the Bush era should get eth same treatment.

    Would you Vote for me?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sounds like a scapegoat's job anyway.

    One person being given the task of ensuring all those networks are secure, yeah right. So when a serious breach occurs what happens? One head is sure to roll.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE:Sounds like a scapegoat's job anyway

    Possibly it is, and it certainly would be a candidate post for buck-stopping should something untoward happen, however it also makes a great deal of common sense.

    Really it should not be read as "...given the task..." so much as "...given the responsibility..." and in that case it is always better if one person has overall responsibility for something deemed important.

    Obviously you need to make sure they have the authority and resources to ensure the job is able to be done, but if you share responsibility you dilute blame, and nothing concentrates the mind quite like the risk of being a running showcase on the Daily Show.

  14. jake Silver badge

    Whatever.

    Anyone who uses the term "cybersecurity" seriously is either out to separate fools from their money, or is one of said fools. Good riddance, I say.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Tombo

    Wow that's just chucked full of jokes:

    1. That position has been found to be redundant and will be filled by our new Indian outsourcing partner.

    2. Who needs a Cybersecurity Czar? America chose WINDOWS!

    "Wow. The more and more I look at politics, the more it looks like a schoolyard clique fest..."

    Actually it is schoolyard politics, every little bit of it. Each country is its own little group and they have fights from time to time over playground territory.

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