Why Did Amit Yoran Quit?
Via Brad DeLong and NTodd, I see the idea forming in the anti-Bush blogosphere that Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity chief Amit Yoran quit in disgust at Bush’s policies. And I’m not sure that’s quite right.
Here’s the most detail on Yoran’s beef I find in the AP article:
Yoran has privately confided to industry colleagues his frustrations in recent months over what he considers the department’s lack of attention paid to computer security issues, according to lobbyists and others who recounted these conversations on condition they not be identified because the talks were personal.
I bet the US Representative from Des Moines, Iowa, thinks the US government doesn’t pay enough attention to the issues affecting Des Moines, Iowa. Likewise, the cybersecurity chief at DHS is probably going to think more attention needs to be paid to cybersecurity. And if he’s just left a job as a tech sector CEO, he’s probably used to having people do what he says, and on the double.
Where should “cyberterrorism” really rank on our list of national priorities? What if you had to choose between a terrorist attack that would take down the entire Internet for two weeks and a terrorist attack that would blow up just one bus in a major city during rush hour? I’d save human lives first, every time. Economically, the Internet outage might do more damage in the short term, but if people get scared of walking around Wall Street, you’ll see some real economic damage.
Full disclosure: my day job has ties to both DHS and cybersecurity.