The Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124932480886002237.html reported that Melissa Hathaway, the acting White House Cyber Security Czar, has resigned.

The difficulty filling the position has been ongoing and is not limited to an administration or political camp. Richard Clarke at one time held a similar position in the Bush administration, Howard Schmidt was a cyber security advisor to Bush as well. The seemingly impossible nature of the job keeps chewing up good people.

The fundamental problem is that the person who holds the job is expected to please too many masters. Still, this is a position that needs to be filled and one must measure success by improvement. Different factions in the government are to blame for the list of people who have left the role of cyber security advisor, which is fundamentally what the new position still is.

What will it take to do the job? Personally I would nominate Khadijah Williams http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009364589_harvard21.html for the position. The person accepting the job will need the drive, intellect, determination and flat out refusal to fail of a Khadijah Williams to succeed in the role. Ultimately drive will trump experience in this role.

Randy Abrams
Director of Technical Education