You Should Be ‘Significantly Concerned’ There’s No White House Cyber Coordinator, Policy Experts Say

How concerned should Americans be about a White House shuffle that removed the cybersecurity coordinator position? Significantly concerned, according to a collection of top cybersecurity policy experts.  White House National Security Adviser John Bolton eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position soon after taking office in May. The elimination was greeted with consternation by many cyber analysts who believed the job, which encompasses government cyber protections, international cyber negotiations and broad US cyber policy, was too complex to be subsumed into broader White House operations. The cyber coordinator role was created in the first year of the Obama administration and first filled by government veteran Howard Schmidt. Cyber coordinators have played key roles in responding to major cyber events, including the 2014 Sony hack, the 2015 Office of Personnel Management breach and Russian digital meddling in the 2016 election.