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Howard Schmidt Speaks His Mind
by Bara Vaida
Howard Schmidt, the White House's former top adviser on cyber security, wants to set the record straight. Schmidt said in an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily last week that he always had planned to leave Washington by the end of 2003 and that the Bush administration always has been committed to cyber security.
Ever since the March 1 dissolution of the White House's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, which oversaw cyber security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, executives within the high-tech sector have questioned the administration's support for cyber security. When Schmidt announced in early May that he was leaving the White House to take a job as chief security officer at eBay, speculation swirled that the Homeland Security Department was dragging its feet on creating a cyber-security office and did not plan to create a senior cyber-security post, resulting in Schmidt's departure.
"There was a misconception about what the board was about," Schmidt said. "It was always viewed as a temporary thing ... and it was set up so we could develop the strategic plan for protecting cyberspace ... and once we did that, it was appropriate to pass it off to the Homeland Security Department."
Schmidt, a former chief security officer at Microsoft, added that when he joined the White House in late 2001, he told administration officials he was only committed to be in Washington for two years. "I never gave up my home in Seattle," he said.
He did talk with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about taking a position at the new department but decided he wanted to return to Seattle. And Schmidt said Ridge and Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Gordon England took until early June to decide on whether to create a cyber division because administration officials wanted the new assistant secretary of infrastructure protection to determine how such an office should be structured.
"Secretary England recognized the critical nature of cyber security, [but he] didn't want to presuppose how an organization [the infrastructure protection office] would be run," Schmidt said. When President Bush appointed Robert Liscouski as assistant secretary, Schmidt added, "it was just a matter of him coming in and deciding how it was best to run" cyber security.
While Schmidt would not speak about his new position at eBay, he did say he plans to be a leader in the private sector in coordinating with the government to boost the nation's cyber security. Within the next several weeks, he said, there will be announcements on how the private sector is organizing cyber protection.
"The administration is doing the right thing," Schmidt said. "Ridge understands it. Liscouski understands it. We just need to give them a chance to get organized."
Microsoft Hire Legislative, Privacy Experts
Microsoft has hired Ed Ingle as senior director of legislative affairs in its Washington. Ingle joins the firm from the White House, where he is currently deputy assistant to Bush for Cabinet affairs. Ingle assumes his new role on July 21.
Peter Cullen, currently the chief privacy office for the Royal Bank of Canada, has been hired to be Microsoft's chief privacy strategist. Cullen, who will join the software company on July 14, has more than a decade of experience in privacy and data protection, and is to work for Microsoft's "trustworthy computing" initiative. He will report to Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief strategist on trustworthy computing.
Rep. Pickering Ponders Job With Telecom Group
Is Rep. Charles (Chip) Pickering, R-Miss., considering leaving Capitol Hill?
Pickering, who was a key player in last year's debate over legislation on the high-speed Internet market, has confirmed that he has been in talks to become president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association when current president Thomas Wheeler resigns at the end of the year.
"He is honored to be considered," a Pickering spokesman said of the lawmaker. "His name has been mentioned. They have talked to him about it, but all plans at this time are to remain in Congress, to run for re-election and to continue serving the people of Mississippi."
In other news, the Senate last week confirmed C. Stewart Verdery as assistant Homeland Security secretary for policy and planning in the department's directorate on border and transportation security. Verdery previously was the Senate GOP liaison to the high-tech sector.
Washington Tech Group Taps Policy Chief
Christopher Long, the president of Washington Resource Associates, has been named the new chairman of the policy committee at the Washington-area lobbying group CapNet. He replaces Gloria Dittus of Dittus Communications in the post.
In an interview last week, Long said CapNet is expected to focus on four policy areas: homeland security, Internet taxes, trade and unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Long said specifically that CapNet members want to make sure the Homeland Security Department gets full funding, particularly for technology solutions to security. They also are lobbying for a permanent extension of the moratorium on certain Internet-related taxes and for trade agreements between the United States and other nations.
CapNet is studying potential solutions to the junk e-mail clogging e-mail boxes, too. "The volume of spam is starting to impact our business models, and it's affecting our member companies' relationships with customers," Long said. "We don't have consensus among the companies about [solutions], but consensus is building that something needs to happen in this area."
Long was a co-founder of CapNet back in 1999 and came to the group based on his experience in politics. Before starting Washington Resource Associates, Long worked on the re-election campaign of Chuck Robb, D-Va., and for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Electronics Group Hire New Executive
Douglas Wiley, director of government relations for Alcatel Americas, has joined the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) as senior vice president of government affairs. He replaces Brian Kelly, who left to join Comcast's government affairs office.
Wiley has been working with EIA companies as chairman of the association's legislative action committee, and he previously worked at the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which falls under the EIA umbrella. He worked on the Hill as senior legislative assistant on high-tech and telecom issues to former House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, R-Va.
Wiley is also the son of Richard Wiley, a former FCC chairman and the founding partner in the Wiley, Rein & Fielding law firm.
Elsewhere within industry, the heads of Hollywood's movie studios are planning to meet privately this month to discuss who will succeed Jack Valenti, its top Washington lobbyist, Roll Call reported last week. So secret is the meeting that the Motion Picture Association of America refuses to confirm that the session is even occurring, though Roll Call cited sources who said it is happening in Los Angeles at the end of June.
The 81-year-old Valenti told movie executives last year that he is considering retirement, news that has resulted in speculation about who will fill his shoes. In January, the rumor was that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., would take the job. Valenti said then: "Last year, The New Yorker said Bill Clinton was going to take my job. This week, it is Billy Tauzin. In another four months, it will be Arnold Schwarzenegger."
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