Category Archives: NSC

Thomas Bossert resigns from White House

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White House official Thomas Bossert, a special assistant to the president on homeland security matters, has resigned, the White House announced Tuesday. The resignation comes one day after newly appointed national security adviser John Bolton took his position at the White House. Bloomberg has reported that Bossert’s resignation came as a result of a Bolton request. NEWS: Bossert is essentially being fired. He is resigning at the request of new National Security Adviser John Bolton, I’m told. — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 10, 2018 Bossert spoke publicly as recent as Sunday on the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to counter Russian aggression in cyberspace. Various national security experts, including some current U.S. officials, have criticized the White House in recent months for what they describe as insufficient punishment towards the Kremlin for having meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Bossert was an important voice in the Trump administration when it came […]

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White House Cybersecurity Coordinator takes on additional role in Trump administration

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Rob Joyce, the White House’s Cybersecurity Coordinator, is ascending through the ranks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. CyberScoop has learned that Joyce will take on a new position starting Monday as Acting Deputy Homeland Security Adviser to the President, a position that was vacated by John Daly in recent days and Amy Pope before him in January. Joyce is a well respected intelligence professional and one of the leading cybersecurity experts in the federal government. Prior to the White House, he worked in the National Security Agency, leading the spy agency’s elite hacking unit known as Tailored Access Operations. The March appointment of Joyce as White House cybersecurity coordinator was heralded by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Joyce will continue in his role as the nation’s cybersecurity czar in addition to the new position. His current duties include coordinating, communicating with and effectively leading the individual cybersecurity efforts of each federal agency, […]

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Double role for White House cyber aide shows challenges for new administration

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The remarkable decision to have a single official fill two key White House cybersecurity posts has highlighted both the Trump administration’s commitment to securing federal IT networks as a national security priority and its inability to fill key cyber jobs. Grant Schneider, the current deputy federal CISO, who has been acting CISO since his boss left mid-January, will also begin doing the job of senior director within the cybersecurity directorate of the National Security Council staff, the White House let slip this week. The federal CISO job is based in the Office and Management and Budget, which, like the NSC, is within the Executive Office of the President. Several former NSC staffers told CyberScoop the dual-hatting arrangement makes sense in the short term, but they questioned its viability in the long run. The administration made fixing federal government IT systems a priority under the cybersecurity executive order President Trump signed in May. The CISO’s office is operationally responsible for […]

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Federal CISO to get second hat as National Security Council’s cyber director

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Grant Schneider, the acting federal CISO who has been running the shop since his boss left just before the inauguration, is getting a second hat within the White House as a senior director for cybersecurity at the National Security Council, an administration official tells CyberScoop. Schneider will take over one of the “recently vacated senior director positions within the Cybersecurity Directorate on the NSC led by Rob Joyce,” the official said in an email. Schneider is the deputy CISO, but has been acting up since federal CISO Gregory Touhill departed in mid-January. “In order to increase synergy and alignment of national and federal cybersecurity strategy, policy, and guidance,” Schneider will continue to do his job at the Office of Management and Budget, the official added. “He will continue to lead and manage the Federal CISO team at OMB as well as the ‘Homeland’ portfolio within the NSC Cybersecurity Directorate.” That position was most recently filled […]

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Former NSA director: It’s time to trash the federal cybersecurity hierarchy

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Former NSA Director Keith Alexander told senators Thursday that the government should undertake a massive reorganization effort that would consolidate some current cybersecurity responsibilities split between the FBI, Homeland Security Department, Defense Department and intelligence community, into a single entity. “When we talk to the agencies they don’t understand their roles and responsibilities,” said Alexander, […]

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