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The US computer emergency programme in tatters

by on11 August 2009

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Toothless wonder


The director of the US Computer Emergency Response Team has resigned because she is frustrated by bureaucratic obstacles and not having sufficient power to do the job in the Department of Homeland Security.

Mischel Kwon is the fourth US CERT director in five years. She was hired in June 2008. Before that, she was the chief IT security technologist for the Department of Justice. It appears she has been poached by RSA as vice president of public-sector security solutions.

On the day she went, the director of the National Cyber Security Center at Homeland Security said the Obama administration "has made cybersecurity a top priority."

Analysts have been saying that the departures show the weakness inherent in the system and that it is impossible to find people who can make a difference. Talented people find themselves butting heads against bureaucracy and in the end just get annoyed and leave.

Last modified on 11 August 2009
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