Banking Information Security Podcast

Melissa Hathaway, who led President Obama's 60-day cybersecurity policy review, says it would be a mistake to place the nation's top cybersecurity adviser in the Department of Homeland Security, as proposed by an influential senator, and not in the White House.

Asked, in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com whether the idea forwarded by Sen. Susan Collins, R.-Maine, was a good one, Hathaway responded:

"No. I believe there is a need to have leadership out of the White House. There have been many reports that have been written that if you establish a lead in one particular agency, they don't necessarily have the authoritative responsibility over all of the other departments and agencies. And, while I think it's important to have leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, I think that without having the leadership at the White House, we will not be able to really drive the federal government in the direction that it needs to go."

Among the topics Hathaway addresses in the second of a two-part interview with GovInfoSecurity.com's Eric Chabrow:

• Cybersecurity Coordinator: The difficulty of finding someone with not only strong IT security credentials who also understands economics is a key reason the position remains vacant. The job, as proposed by Obama, would have the cybersecurity coordinator report to the president's national security advisor and the national economic adviser.
• International Cybersecurity Collaboration: The international nature of the Internet and a global economy means the United States cannot act alone to secure information assets.
• E-commerce and Online Banking: "It's important to have better credentialing and authentication of customers online in order to assure the security with banking and e-commerce broadly."

In Part 1 of the interview (click here to listen), Hathaway said government and business must think creatively to help safeguard America's digital assets. She also addressed the critical posture of cybersecurity in the United States, the importance of government and private-sector collaboration on cybersecurity and the need to use the government's massive purchasing power to require security-ready IT wares.

President Obama in February named Hathaway White House acting senior director of cybersecurity and assigned her to lead a wide-ranging, interagency review the government's cybersecurity plans and activities. Her review resulted in the administration's cybersecurity policy agenda the president unveiled in May.

She resigned her White House job in August, and shortly thereafter started the consultancy, Hathaway Global Strategies, and this fall joined the Belfer Center for Science and International Affair at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a senior adviser.

Hathaway is a protégé of retired Adm. Mike McConnell, who served until earlier this year as the National Intelligence director. Under McConnell, Hathaway served as a senior advisor and cyber coordination executive. She chaired the National Cyber Study Group, contributing to the development of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. That led to her appointment as director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force in January 2008. At the business consultancy Booz Allen, where she first worked with McConnell, Hathaway served as a cybersecurity strategist, leading the information operations and long-range strategy and policy support business units.

Hathaway holds a BA from American University and a special certificate in information operations at the U.S. Armed Force Staff College.