Obama To Name Melissa Hathaway Cybersecurity Chief 188
hargrand writes "President Obama has found the cyber tsar to head his new White House office of cybersecurity.
According to US press reports this morning, an announcement expected later today will confirm Melissa Hathaway is to come in as cyber chief, after being cyber coordination executive for the director of national intelligence."
Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Informative)
President Obama has found the cyber tsar ...
Uh, shouldn't that be tsaritsa [wikipedia.org]?
Or is there something you know about Melissa that we don't?
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:4, Funny)
Or is there something you know about Melissa that we don't?
Her parents were stranded on a tropical island you insensitive clod.
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Funny)
She'll need to wear spiked heeled boots and a leather corset.
I think I have issues.
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Funny)
Neither. Cyber-Dominatrix.
She'll need to wear spiked heeled boots and a leather corset.
I think I have issues.
Mod -1 Creepy?
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Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Funny)
"I think I have issues."
If she's hawt you do not have issues.
If she looks like Janet Reno you have issues.
If she looks like Janet Reno and dresses per your description, post pics because you are not alone.
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You may or may not be right. The wiki article you linked doesn't make clear if tsaritsa means only tsar's wife or a ruler on its own.
E.g. due to this distinction in Poland they crowned female ruler as king: Hedwig Rex Poloniae not Hedwig Regina Poloniae.
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The article actually says in the first sentence that it can mean both. It doesn't come up as much, though, because most of the famous female rulers of Russia were in the 18th century, when the official titles were Emperor/Empress (though Tsar kinda stuck around in foreign translations).
why are we using the term in a democracy? (Score:5, Informative)
They're mid-level federal pencil-pushers, at best- and the only reason she got the job was because she was a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton [wikipedia.org], which is basically a government consulting group (aka glorified money sinkhole.)
If that's not a conflict of interest, I don't know what is.
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The whole "czar" thing in US government was coined to represent an official with overall coordinating responsibility over functions which are within the domains of several different executive branch departments (and usually, in each, within the domain of some obscure office within the department); it makes sense when you consider the common description of the problem "czars" are intended to address that the various offices with
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It would have been more appropriate under the Bush Administration, since they believed in Unitary Executives who weren't accountable to Congress or the Courts, but the term rather predates them. But really the term is an anglicization of "Caesar", the family of thugs who ruled Rome and the surrounding world and turned the Republic into an Empire.
There are several reasons for calling somebody a (whatever) Czar:
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And we still let it happen. We put on our NO MA'AM [wikipedia.org] shirts and go into the basement to rant, but we still let it happen!
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Yes it is. What the hell else do you call a GDP?
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Does she run Linux?
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Is it me? (Score:2)
I started picturing in my mind...Mr. Drysdale yelling at her that she's spending too much money on her projects while she trys to garner Jethro's romantic insterests....and getting invited that evening for some of Granny's possum stew.
Oh well...it sure made thinking about the next 4 years more entertaining, that's for sure...
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:5, Informative)
FYI, "won't never" = "will, on at least one occasion", whereas "never won't" = "will always".
Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? (Score:4, Funny)
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There is no way anyone working for Starbucks is a 'barista [wikipedia.org]' or "one who has acquired some level of expertise in the preparation of espresso-based coffee drinks" much less a "a professional who is highly skilled in coffee preparation with a comprehensive understanding of coffee". They just misappropriated the word. Yeah, yeah, I know, off-topic.
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Re:Well, it's a good bet... (Score:4, Funny)
I think it's less trolling, and just a reasonable expectation taking into account past history (from the past 3 weeks) that she will either a) have a Tax issue or b) have lobbying (or lobby-like) ties to the industry she will be regulating. As Cyber-Security Czar is unlikely to regulate an industry, that leaves us with a).
Or c) runs a botnet.
Just sayin'...
Strat
Re:Well, it's a good bet... (Score:4, Insightful)
* Though I do find it most out of character that "no-drama Obama" missed that shit
Czarina is more common (Score:2)
Since we've been calling the previous people Czars rather than Tsars, the corresponding anglicization of a russianized roman title would be Czarina rather than Tsarina or Tsaritsa.
(Or "Ocarina" if you prefer? :-)
Is she related? (Score:5, Funny)
If she's related to Ann Hathaway, she's got my support..
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I wonder if she is any relation to Professor Jerry Hathaway, that guy who was involved in a popcorn & laser scandal back in the 80s?
Melissa? Is that you? (Score:4, Funny)
Melissa... Melissa... Cyber security... Now, where exactly [wikipedia.org] did I hear that name?
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Well, according to Google images, she could either be a teacher [uvm.edu], a photographer [myspace.com], a student [mientertainment.biz], or a 29-year old baby [myspace.com].
Take your pick.
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If she's related to Anne Hathaway, she's got my support..
There, fixed it for ya!
Can't keep 'em straight (Score:4, Funny)
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Headline should be... (Score:5, Funny)
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I almost gave you a hard time for unnecessarily relating something to the poor economy.
Joke's on me. :-)
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Uh oh... Beveryly Hillbillies flashback! (Score:4, Funny)
"Miss Hathaway, can you come into my office for a moment...?"
CYBER (Score:5, Interesting)
Am I the only one who *hates* the word cyber?
Is it a generational thing? Does it have something to do with Lawnmower Man?
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Using Windows is like walking through Middle-earth. There's a freaking wizard lurking around every corner.
and most of them are up to no good...
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If Windows is Middle-earth, then Linux must be the blessed realm of Valinor.
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No, I was groaning all through the summary. The term utterly lacks dignity, in my opinion. It is hard to imagine a "Cyber-Czar" doing anything worthwhile. "Cyber-" invariably summons up images of bad 90's movies (though I never saw Lawnmower Man), and William Gibson's earlier novels, the technology in which seems even more quaint and anachronistic today. Creating an office of Cybersecurity just makes Obama seem foolish and out of touch (even if the system of nomenclature originated elsewhere, he's the p
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Cybersecurity is a military term. All military terms are honky, it's the style.
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Are you racist against rednecks?
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Hey! Not anymore. I apologized to ESR [quantumg.net] and everything!
The opposite of honky (Score:2)
All military terms are honky
Then does that make all civilian terms niggar...dly?
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Is it a generational thing? Does it have something to do with Lawnmower Man?
There are a lot of issues that have to do with Lawnmower Man.
Fear of the word "cyber" is just one. :P
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I hate the use of tsar it refered to rulers originally ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar ) and now it's used more like executive or manager for these new departments in government.... why don't we have the King of Homeland Security or the Emperor of Central Intelligence or is there a Dictator of Finance? Geez people!!!
Oh I got it Cyber-lord of Internet Content Purification and Control.... perfect!
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Well, cybernetics came into widespread use meaning the study of feedback and control systems.
Computers obviously have considerable applications to many modern control applications. However, it was premature in the 80's and 90's to refer to anything computer related as "cyber-". The case may somewhat different today, particularly in regard to security.
A system's property of "security" is not inherent in the security of its parts, it is not in any way shape or form the sum of the security of its parts.
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Yup, it's a horrible "word", prefix, and term in general.
Cyber to me means only one thing - cyber sex (from text conversations to full blown VR).
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Really, i find its more a problem involving the instant it left gibsons pen and was read by someone in the media.
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Only in the alternate universe where English is more of a guideline rather than a fully normative experience.
Incidentally, did you happen to be holding a... cookbook, lately?
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Only in the alternate universe where English is more of a guideline
rather than a fully normative experience.
If that's what you think, I pose a simple question:
wanna cyber?
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It could be worse, they could have called her virtualsecurity chief or something.
Every other thing that has slightly to do with tech is called virtual* these days.
Change (Score:4, Interesting)
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If she can somehow become the poster girl for geeky women and bring more of those into our line of work to lighten up the workplace, that'll be awesome. Now that's progress my friends.
We'd have to start wearing pants ;-(
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Only if she doesn't screw up. But the same goes for Obama as well.
Sad but true.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Progress vs. end-goals (Score:2)
If she can be judged on her achievements without mentioning her gender, that'll be real progress.
Wouldn't that be the end goal rather than progress towards it?
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You know, I've been curious too. I went crawling around for pictures or more biography. Pretty much the same ol' stuff everywhere. She's either done a good job sanitizing her public history, or she's never done anything. I'll opt for #1.
I would have gone with... (Score:5, Interesting)
This woman helped politic the CNCI into existence.
This editorial says more about the uselessness of that than I ever could:
http://duvet-dayz.com/archives/2008/07/21/805/ [duvet-dayz.com]
One of Obama's weakest appointments, and yes - I voted for him.
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Do you have any idea how many people he's appointed within the past few weeks?
Say what you will about GWB
Ok. He was a fucking moron who couldn't have done more damage to our country if he was a paid subversive.
Obama already shatter his record in the most unsavory manor.
Too bad spell checkers can't catch stupid.
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Do you have some shred of evidence that a significant fraction (to say nothing of "almost all, if not all") of the eight thousand appointments and nominations he's made are corrupt and ineffectual? I'm guessing not, because unless they all live six feet underground it's impossible to make any meaningful determinations after three whole weeks.
I think that's so funny (Score:5, Insightful)
The US government appointing delegates with huge powers to regulate and oversee entire swaths of industry with very little personal accountability (heaven forbid!), and the irony in calling them tsars.
Well when the "Land of the Free" finally stops being free, you won't be able to argue that you didn't see it coming.
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Free as in speech or free as in beer? The speech part seems to be less and less free each day, now the beer thing, could anybody please tell me exactly *where* do they give away this free beer?
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You can get up to three free beers at my place.
However, there is a $25 cover charge...
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The US government appointing delegates with huge powers to regulate and oversee entire swaths of industry with very little personal accountability (heaven forbid!), and the irony in calling them tsars.
Wait a sec. Oversee and regulate entire swatch of industry? Really? How?
Seems to me the post is more about going "say guys - this would be a really Good Idea if we all did it this way." To which some will agree and adjust accordingly. Others will go "a mighty fine idea you got there" and continue trudging along in the same direction as always. And most won't even be aware that any of this is going on.
And that's just in Government IT.
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This person will have no power to regulate or oversee any part of any industry.
ha good choice (Score:2, Interesting)
Come on - a woman as head of cybersecurity? This is like trolling the entire male IT world. If there's any single woman who's computer is going to be the focus of internet attacks - it's going to be hers. :-)
It's not that I have anything with women in positions of authority, but this is different - I think Obama is underestimating the collective power of the patriarchal IT industry.
Rule 34 if she looks anything like that actress named Anne.
every many and woman is a tsar (Score:2)
Do all these "Tsars" piss anyone else off? (Score:2, Interesting)
I thought we didn't have titles of nobility or royalty in America. FYI "Tsar/Czar" comes from "Caesar".
Or maybe it is appropriate these days...
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is she CISSP certified? (Score:2)
If not, what qualifications does she have?
CyberSecurityCyberCyberChiefofCyber (Score:2)
For the love of $DIETY why the fuck is it that the government feels the need to call anything that has the slightest thing to do with information technology "Cyber." I'm cybersick of cybermorons in cybergovernment cyberthinking they cyberknow cyberanything about cyberanything.
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Let's deal with the McSecurity after going to McDonald's for a McPizza Mmmckay?
She doesn't even have an IT degree (Score:2)
This is a joke, right? (Score:2)
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What did he do? AFAIK, 'tsar' and 'czar' are different spellings of the same word.
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I asked the Spanish sergeant to seize her and he said "Si, sir.'
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I asked the Spanish sergeant to seize her and he said "Si, sir.'
spun (1352)
s pun
S, PUN
WHOAMG low UIDs really are better.
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How is that offtopic? Tsar and Czar are both derived from Caesar.
Re:What's the difference between a "cybersecurity. (Score:5, Insightful)
Gurlz iz rare in IT. The work/life balance sucks hard. I hope she knows that.
Yes, because obviously being female and having only made it to a senior position appointed by the most powerful man in the world, she must be a clueless newbie in need of advice on work-life balance from Slashdot...
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Of course it could be that. I just think it's sad how many people around here seem to be assuming that it is that, just because this particular high-ranking official is female. I hope it's just a young male insecurity thing amplified by the profile of Slashdot posters, and not a reflection of how sexist society as a whole still remains.
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'Gender Isle'. That's inadvertent genius.
Okay, seriously, she does have serious military training, pretty decent database chops, and she did create cocaine traffic flow models for the government in the past. That leads me to believe that:
"Cybersecurity chief" is a senior position? (Score:2)
How would you know? It didn't exist until a minute ago. It's certainly not cabinet-level, or there would be confirmation hearings.
My point is that most IT people, regardless of their gender, are "cybersecurity chiefs" -- that is, they're responsible for the security of their systems. What makes this one so special?
Most women are too smart to go into IT. As we all know from personal experience, it's a rotten job with too much responsibility, not enough authority, and zero upward mobility.
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How about posting questions straight to slashdot, you might just get some true, no kiss-ass, answers for once from people who aren't trying to make points and kissing up to ambitions.
Of course, the advice from Slashdot would be completely neutral and have no bias at all... except where anything to do with software or databases was concerned, but I can't imagine how this role would be affected by that sort of contraint!
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you might just get some true, no kiss-ass, answers for once
...but you'll most likely be Goatse'd to Hell and back.
No picture, but more details (Score:5, Informative)
Here's her bio, from the announcement for an event, 'Cyber Security Breakfast with Melissa Hathaway' held last month.
Melissa E. Hathaway is Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Cyber Coordination Executive. She chairs the National Cyber Study Group (NCSG), a senior-level interagency body that was instrumental in developing the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) aimed at substantially improving the ability of the United States to secure and defend its critical cyber national infrastructure. In January 2008, Ms. Hathaway was appointed the Director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force (JIACTF), which coordinates and monitors the implementation of the broad portfolio of activities and programs that comprise the CNCI. In discussions at the highest levels of the U.S. Government, Ms. Hathaway has articulated a holistic, integrated vision to bridge offensive and defensive missions and capabilities to provide a full situational awareness of the Federal network environment and the global cyberspace environment. Her management of the CNCI ensures that this vision takes into account all of the U.S. Government mission areas, including law enforcement, intelligence, military, diplomatic, and homeland security.
Prior to her appointment as Senior Advisor, Ms. Hathaway was a Principal with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where her responsibilities focused on leading two primary business units: information operations and long range strategy and policy support. Her consulting efforts supported key offices within the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, including United States Strategic Command, United States Pacific Command, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Net Assessment, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Her work included the design and development of novel techniques for mapping social, business process, and infrastructure relationships. She also led the design and development of a methodology for evaluating new force options across the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of the more significant long range strategy and policy studies on which Ms. Hathaway worked focused on biotechnology, power projection, Asia, and other national security issues.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Hathaway was employed with the consulting firm Evidence Based Research, where she performed research and developed databases to track economic and political issues in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, developed a model to detect the routes and modes and to estimate the quantities of cocaine movement into the United States, and studied other key issues in support of the Intelligence Community.
Ms. Hathaway has a B.A. degree from The American University in Washington, D.C. She has completed graduate studies in international economics and technology transfer policy, and is a graduate of the US Armed Forces Staff College, with a special certificate in Information Operations.
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Agreed. Shes a talking head. Crap I have better security credentials than that.
I recently read an article about the DoD cyber-warfare....they all use Windows for jebus sake.
HTF can you hack anything running windows....this is just more Security Theatre, Act2.
WW3 will be decided in less than 6 minutes.
Hows that for getting inside your opponents decision timeline?
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That sounds like an Information Operation. She has a special certificate in that!
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No, DSL....
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You know, when I was starting to really ramp up towards advanced stuff, I was pretty isolated. I had a lot of online resources (sites, email, chat with knowledgeable people), but rarely did I actually talk to people in person. Some things I got right, just out of dumb luck. Some things I didn't. I pronounce Linux wrong (leye-nuhks). Around 1992, I was told to "Try out this Linux thing". Armed with a box of floppies, and no idea what I was getting myself into, I tried. (and failed, as a