Category Archives: NPPD

Ray Kelly, Elaine Duke on short list for Homeland Security secretary

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Officials have narrowed the list for the vacant secretary of Homeland Security position as the White House aims to find a replacement for retired U.S. Marine Gen. John Kelly, former DHS officials tell CyberScoop. Current DHS Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke, who has been the department’s acting secretary since Kelly left to become White House chief of staff two weeks ago, is among the leading candidates, one former senior DHS official in touch with the administration said. Several former officials from the last two administrations spoke to CyberScoop, which granted them anonymity to candidly discuss internal deliberations they had been briefed on and give their unvarnished views on the candidates. In addition to Duke, the list of possible candidates for the secretary’s post, according to the former senior DHS official in touch with the administration, includes: Former New York Police Chief Ray Kelly Former Coast Guard Commandant and Deputy DHS Secretary James Loy Former DHS […]

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Russian hackers targeted 21 states before 2016 election, FBI still investigating

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Government officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigations said Wednesday that election officials and systems in a total of 21 states were targeted by Russian hackers in the months preceding the 2016 presidential election. “We have evidence of election-related systems in 21 states that were targeted,” said Jeanette Manfra, acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and communications at the DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate. The disclosure was made for the first time during a hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence focused on Russian interference in the U.S. election. Manfra did not name the individual states which were targeted and also did not further explain the contextual definition of “targeted” in this context. She also did not say how many of the targeted states were ultimately hacked and if, for example, any data was exfiltrated in these select incidents. The “owners” of targeted […]

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Former DHS cyber official Schneck takes financial consulting job

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Phyllis Schneck, the most senior official with a cybersecurity-specific job at the Obama-era Department of Homeland Security, has landed at Promontory Financial Group, one of Washington’s most powerful and best-connected banking consultancies. Schneck, who was deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and communications in DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, told friends that she started last week. The Promontory website lists her as “managing director and global leader of cyber solutions” in the company’s Washington, D.C., office. Neither Schneck nor a representative of the company immediately responded to an email requesting comment. Promontory is a behind-the-scenes powerhouse packed with former banking regulators and other ex-officials — from founder and former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig to board member and former White House Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein. Indeed a large chunk of the company’s revenue comes from outsourced oversight. It’s hired by regulatory agencies, for example, to backstop overworked staff by monitoring  punishment deals […]

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