The White House on Wednesday evening announced 10 appointments to the non-partisan commission that will make recommendations on actions to strengthen cyber security in the public and private sectors.
The appointments, which include Keith Alexander, the former director of the National Security Agency and Commander of United States Cyber Command, completes membership on the commission, which will produce an advisory report in early December. Alexander is currently CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity, a technology and consulting firm.
The Commission for Enhancing Cybersecurity held its first meeting on Thursday at the Department of Commerce, Michael Daniel, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator, said in a White House blog post on Wednesday announcing the appointments. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, also attended the meeting.
In February President Barack Obama appointed the leaders of the Commission for Enhancing Cybersecurity, Chairman Tom Donilon, former National Security Advisor to the president, and Vice-Chairman Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM [IBM].
The new members, appointed with the help of bi-partisan congressional leaders, include in addition to Alexander: Annie Anton, professor and chair of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech; Ajay Benga, president and CEO of MasterCard [MA]; Steven Chabinsky, general counsel and chief risk officer of CrowdStrike; Patrick Gallagher, chancellor of the Univ. of Pittsburgh and former director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft [MSFT]; Herbert Lin, a research scholar for cyber security and policy at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution; Heather Murren, former member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and co-founder of the Nevada Cancer Institute; Joe Sullivan, chief security officer of Uber and the former chief security officer of Facebook [FB]; and Maggie Wilderotter, executive chairman of Frontier Communications [FTR].
“These 12 individuals will be charged with recommending bold, actionable steps that the government, private sector, and the nation as a whole can take to bolster cybersecurity in today’s digital world, and reporting back by the beginning of December,” Daniel said in the blog. He added that “The Commission is tasked with making detailed recommendations on actions that can be taken over the next decade to enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections through the private sector and at all levels of government, to protect privacy, to ensure public safety and economic and national security, and to empower Americans to take better control of their digital security.”
Obama directed the creation of the new commission in his February executive order that was part of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan.
Thad Allen, executive vice president of the consulting and professional services firm Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], told Defense Daily in an interview on Thursday that one area the commission will provide value includes an open discussion around encryption.
“We’re in a place where technology is accelerating so fast that sometimes it’s okay to take a breath and have a discussion about what we think it all means moving forward,” Allen said. He also hopes the commission’s work helps fill gaps in global governance structures in a hyper-connected world.
To ensure broad support each member of the bipartisan congressional leadership chose one commissioner, Daniel said. That leadership includes House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Allen said that with a presidential transition set to begin in about seven months, the commission could help by putting “some markers down about where there is consensus moving forward,” adding that they “need to be deliberate and make some progress” before there is a change in administration.