GSN Aug/Sept Digital Edition

Dr. Andy Ozment to head DHS National Cybersecurity andCommunications Integration CenterBy Steve BittenbenderFollowing up on statements hemade last month, the Secretary ofthe Department of Homeland Securityannounced earlier this weekthat he has realigned the agency tohave its top cybersecurity officialsreporting incidents directly to him.In making the announcement,Secretary Jeh C. Johnson also announcedthat Dr. Andy Ozment,the department’s assistant secretaryof the Office of Cybersecurityand Communications, will headthe National Cybersecurity andCommunications Integration Center.Ozment’s background includesworking at the White House as theSenior Director for Cybersecurityunder President Obama.The center serves as the backbonefor the government’s ability to respondto cyber threats and incidentsby sharing information with publicand private entities and coordinatingresponse efforts. Since October,the NCCIC has dispatched morethan 6,000 alerts to key stakeholdersand provided on-site assistanceon 32 cybersecurity incidents, Johnsonsaid. The number of incidentsrepresents a more than two-fold increasefrom last year. Most notably,the NCCIC has provided assistanceto the Office of Personnel Managementafter it discovered its systemswere breached earlier this year. Datafrom more than 20 million federalworkers, contractors and applicants we must elevate the NCCIC withinwas comprised in the breaches, officialssaid.an incident reporting line directlyour Department’s structure, withJohnson hinted at these moves to me as Secretary,” said Johnsonwhen he spoke at the Center for in a statement regarding the appointmentsof Ozment and Felkner.Strategic and International Studieslast month in Washington.“Equally as important, I have also“To be frank, our federal cybersecurityis not where it needs to be,” and Programs Directorate (NPPD)directed the National ProtectionJohnson said last month. “But we to develop a reorganization planhave taken, and are taking, acceleratedand aggressive action to get cused on strengthening our opera-that will ensure the NCCIC is fo-there.”tional capabilities for mitigating andJoining Ozment at the NCCIC responding to cyber incidents.”will be John Felkner, who Johnson The assignments and reorganizationplan comes at a time when a cy-said will be responsible for the dailyoperations within the center. A bersecurity bill aimed at increasingCoast Guard veteran, Felkner was information sharing and reducingthe deputy commander of the Coast the response time to threats remainsGuard’s Cyber Command before stalled in the Senate over concernsventuring into the private sector. regarding privacy rights. The Senatewill take up the bill when it re-Most recently, he was the director ofCyber and Intelligence Strategy for convenes next month, bringing upHP Enterprise Services.nearly two dozen amendments to“Given the central importance of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Richardthe NCCIC to the DHS cybersecuritymission, I have determined that More on pageBurr (R-N.C.).2825