For White House Cyber Czar, Being Called a Noob Comes with the Territory

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Michael Daniel, the White House’s cybersecurity coordinator, courted controversy when he gave an interview on his role setting cyber policy for the Obama administration. But it wasn’t his thoughts on how the government can better protect its IT systems from intrusions or how the feds should respond to cyberattacks that caused a fuss. It was his résumé.

Daniel said it was important to have a “broad sense” of the role technology plays in cyber policy, then added: “But you don’t have to be a coder in order to really do well in this position. In fact, I think being too down in the weeds at the technical level could actually be a little of a distraction in that sense.” His remarks blew up on Twitter. Many social media commentators were perturbed that the nation’s top cybersecurity official seemed to be flaunting his lack of technical experience.


For White House Cyber Czar, Being Called a Noob Comes with the Territory