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The Voice Of Critical Infrastructure
by Bara Vaida
Neill Edwards is the new public affairs officer at the Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO), which is serving as the government's chief outreach team on cyber security to the private sector. Edwards previously was at Edelman Communications and Stevens, Reed, Curcio, a GOP media-consulting firm.
John Tritak, head of the CIAO, has been coordinating the information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) that have been created to facilitate the sharing of cyber-security information between the government and private sector. Tritak's office, with the help of the private sector, is contributing to the development of a national cyber-security plan that is being drafted by White House cyber-security adviser Richard Clarke.
Moving Up (And Off) The Bureaucratic Ladder
Members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) last week elected David Mason as the body's chairman and Karl Sandstrom as its vice chairman.
Mason, a Republican, served most recently as vice chairman, and he joined the FEC in July 1998. During his tenure, Mason has taken a particular interest in the Internet and its use in politics. He worked on drafting some of the initial regulations regarding the medium. Currently, the FEC is sifting through public comments to proposed rules on the use of the Internet and political activity, and the agency will hold a public hearing on the issue early next year.
Sandstrom, a Democrat, also joined the FEC in July 1998.
Elsewhere, Toby Levin has decided to leave her post as a former senior attorney at the FTC. She has joined the Privacy Council as vice president and special counsel of its new Center of Excellence based in Washington. The Privacy Council launched the center earlier this year to focus on privacy issues. "My goal is to help the center become the global privacy resource for businesses and policymakers," Levin said in a statement.
And in other news, FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle has been appointed to head the U.S. delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Experts Group for Review of the OECD Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems. The group reviews network security to address the vulnerabilities and threats to government and business operations, and to consumers who rely on computer systems.
From The 'Where Are They Now?' File
Linda Roberts, director of the Education Department's Office of Educational Technology during the Clinton administration, is now a fellow at the Markle Foundation, as well as a private strategic consultant on educational technology policy to foundations, companies and school districts.
"I hate to use the term 'consulting' because it doesn't explain what I am doing," Roberts said in an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily about what she has been doing since she left the Clinton administration. "It's really strategic advising, based on what I learned in my eight years in government and my longstanding knowledge of research and data." Roberts also is serving on the board of Sesame Street and working on a book.
In her years at the Education Department, Roberts said she found that technology can help students learn complex topics like math and science, but also that teachers have to be trained to use technology to help students and that schools must incorporate technology into the curriculum. When students have access to technology "they treat it with great respect," she said.
KPMG Consults Seek To Boost Profile
KPMG Consulting, the spin-off from accounting firm KPMG, has created a new government relations office that is headed by Charles Cantus. Cantus previously was the chief lobbyist for the Professional Services Council and will be in charge of increasing KPMG Consulting's profile on Capitol Hill.
Homeland security is among the consulting firm's top issues. The company successfully has led an effort to link the various law enforcement databases in Pennsylvania and is looking to expand that business into other states and the federal government. Cantus said workforce, privacy and security issues are likely to be other technology topics of interest to the firm.
The group is expanding its office and hiring several new staff members.
Guarding AOL Time Warner
AOL Time Warner has hired Larry Cockell to be senior vice president and chief security officer beginning Jan. 14, 2002. Cockell will be responsible for worldwide security at AOL and will oversee and coordinate the company's security policies and operations.
Cockell is currently the deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service and once headed former President Clinton's protective detail. Cockell also has served as assistant director of the Secret Service's Office of Human Resources and Training, and as special assistant to the Treasury secretary. Before joining the Secret Service in 1981, Cockell worked for eight years for the Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department.
Democracy's New Leader
Carol Darr has joined George Washington University's Democracy Online Project as director. The project promotes the development of online political content and communications.
Darr most recently was senior vice president for business and public affairs for the Interactive Digital Software Association. Before that, she was vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. She also was counsel to the Democratic National Committee in 1988.
McCain Loses Longtime Aide
After 15 years of working for Sen. John McCain, Mark Buse has left the Hill to work for the lobbying arm of law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Buse started working for McCain as an intern in 1984, when McCain was then a House member.
Buse formerly was the staff director of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and worked on a myriad of high-tech issues. He also acted as chief liaison between McCain and the Bush administration.
Intellectual Shootout At The Online Corral
The Congressional Western Caucus, a group of lawmakers that focuses on property rights, is getting hip to the digital age. The group is hosting a dinner discussion on intellectual property rights Tuesday evening.
The talk will feature Marc Racicot, the chairman-designate of the Republican National Committee, who also serves as a lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA has been at the front lines in the battle over intellectual property in the digital age and is litigating several cases against Web sites that offer music for free.
Despite the emphasis on a tech issue, the caucus is not digital enough to have a working Web site.
In other event news, several high-tech executives attended a White House dinner honoring the Special Olympics last Thursday. The guests included: former Netscape Communications CEO James Barksdale; Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos; AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case; David Gang, America Online's president of strategic business solutions; former Oracle executive Raymond Lane; and Richard Parsons, AOL's designated successor to CEO Gerald Levin.
The First Weave Of The Web
Paul Kunz, a physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, said in an interview with USA Today that he was the first person to create a Web site in the United States 10 years ago. Kunz did so after a meeting in Switzerland, where he met Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web. Kunz went home and created a page that gave Berners-Lee easy access to Kunz' database of papers on the Linear Accelerator. "In hindsight, it seems what I did was very important," Kunz said.
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