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Security Transition Sparks Cyber Fallout
by Bara Vaida
Tiffany Olson, deputy chief of staff at the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, is joining the computer-security company Symantec. Olson will head the creation of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's government affairs office in Washington and will be working at the company's network operations center in Alexandria, Va.
Olson, who will start her new job in mid-March, has been the lead liaison to the media for the administration as President Bush's cyber-security strategy was developed over the past year. The board was dissolved on March 1 and absorbed into the new Homeland Security Department, which will implement the cyber-security plan.
Before working at the White House, Olson was an officer in the Coast Guard and then was assigned to Coast Guard congressional affairs.
The merging of various government agencies into Homeland Security has caused confusion within the high-tech community about who is in charge of cyber and critical infrastructure issues at the department. Bush has yet to nominate an undersecretary for information analysis and infrastructure protection, who will oversee policy on cyber security and critical infrastructures.
For now, Col. Robert Stephan has been temporarily in charge of organizing the division, said spokesman David Wray. Stephan was director of critical infrastructure protection at the White House Office of Homeland Security, which also dissolved with the creation of the department. The office has been transformed into the Homeland Security Council at the White House and functions similarly to the National Security Council in terms of its structure and its advice to the president, according to a White House official.
"Stephan ... and some other [senior] officials are helping to define the organization and move things forward as we come together," Wray said.
When asked if there is concern among the staff about the lack of an official leader, Wray said, "No. We have a job to do. We are anxious to have someone there to have an arbiter of opinion, but we'll establish the means to do our job and wait" for the nominee to be announced.
Vivendi Counsel Tapped For Security Post
Stewart Verdery, who has been a senior legislative counsel for Vivendi Universal Entertainment since February 2002, is leaving to join the Homeland Security Department. President Bush announced on Monday that he intends to nominate Verdery to be assistant secretary of border and transportation security policy.
Before working at Vivendi, Verdery wore the dual hats of general counsel to then-Assistant Senate Republican Leader Don Nickles, R-Okla., and of lead staffer for the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force. He helped shape high-tech policy for Senate Republicans. Earlier in his career, he served as counsel for the Senate Judiciary and Rules and Administration committees.
Veritas Eyes Presence In Washington
Veritas Software, a Mountain View, Calif., company, has kept a low profile in Washington, but the software storage company has now grown large enough to start increasing its profile, Mark Bregman, executive vice president of Veritas product operations, said in an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily last week.
Bregman was in Washington to speak at a National Academy of Sciences symposium on measuring and sustaining the new economy and to discuss how policy impacts technology development. He said that policymakers have not viewed software differently than information technology hardware but that they should when it comes to tax and fiscal policy.
The largest cost for software vendors is the development of intellectual property and the payment of staff for services they provide to help companies run the software, Bregman said. The largest cost for hardware vendors, however, is production, "so the economic models between software and hardware are different, yet they are viewed as the same with regard to tax and financial policy." Bregman suggested that lawmakers consider different tax incentives for software that could unleash further productivity in the industry.
On another front, Bregman said the biggest challenge for lawmakers wanting the government to analyze huge amounts of computer data is picking the relevant information, and right now that is extremely difficult. "So trying to figure out how to extract data is the right focus," he said. Bregman said he is not worried about losing his privacy because "there is just so much data out there" that his information most likely would get lost in the avalanche.
Veritas may begin to lobby as a company on such issues in the near future, as it is reaching the point of maturity and can focus more on engaging in politics and policy, said Bregman, a former executive with IBM. He said the firm eventually is likely to hire a lobbying firm in Washington or an individual to handle government affairs.
Flaming Computers And Broken Kneecaps
Last week's House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing addressed the serious issue of digital piracy at universities, but Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat and one of the newest members of the committee provided some comic relief.
After John Conyers, D-Mich., yielded his time to Weiner, describing him as the "freshest" member of the committee, Weiner questioned Pennsylvania State University President Graham Spanier about why that university is not using more creative methods for deterring illegal file sharing of music and movies on the Internet.
"We in Congress want to see some serious action to deal with this problem ... but we are just convening a lot of roundtables. ... Now, I think that if some kid had his computer go off in flames because he was downloading some songs," Weiner said, "the message would get around the Penn State campus pretty quickly."
The audience laughed and then Spanier said, "I don't know that there is any flame-enabling technology out there." Weiner's response: "Well, there is a guy at Farrell's Barn in Windsor Terrace [in Brooklyn, N.Y.] that will break his kneecaps."
A Clearer Channel To Capitol Hill?
Clear Channel Communications, which owns the majority of radio stations in the United States and faces a host of policy questions on Capitol Hill ranging from antitrust concerns to webcasting rates, is expanding its Washington office. The firm hired Robert Fisher and Brendan Kelsay, both with the title of director of government relations.
Fisher most recently was a professional staffer of the Senate Commerce Committee, where he advised Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. on telecommunications and mass media issues. Kelsay most recently was a professional staffer of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he advised ranking Democrat John Dingell of Michigan on telecom and mass media issues.
In other industry news, Siebel Systems has hired Stephen Johnston to handle European Union governmental affairs and alliances. As a consultant, Johnston helped Siebel develop its European e-government strategy. He worked in Brussels, Belgium, the home base of the European Union, between 1995 and 2000 and helped launch the Global Business Dialogue on eCommerce when he worked at Bertelsmann. Before that, he worked for the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.
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