White House eliminates cybersecurity coordinator position

Author: CBS News
Published:
FILE: Cyber security

The White House eliminated the position of cybersecurity coordinator, a National Security Council official confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday. The position was left open when Rob Joyce, President Trump’s first coordinator, announced last month he was leaving the White House to return to the National Security Agency.

“Today’s actions continue an effort to empower National Security Council senior directors. Streamlining management will improve efficiency, reduce bureaucracy and increase accountability,” NSC spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement, according to Reuters

When Joyce first announced his departure last month, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Joyce would “stay on  as needed to provide continuity and facilitate the transition with his replacement.”

The news was first reported by Politico. According to Reuters, The White House has seen a raft of departures since National Security Adviser John Bolton began his new role in April.

Former Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, Jocye’s boss, oversaw the cybersecurity program and was pushed out of the White House on Bolton’s second day on the job.

Detractors say the role was important symbolically, though, and perhaps structurally as well — Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said the coordinator was “the only person in the federal government tasked with delivering a coordinated, whole-of-government response to the growing cyber threats facing our nation,” CNET reports.

The position was created by President Obama in 2009.

Also on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security unveiled a strategy to guide cybersecurity threats. According to a statement, “the intent is for this strategy to enable the harmonization and prioritization of DHS planning, programming, budgeting, and operational activities across all DHS cybersecurity mission areas. It will focus on coordinating departmental cybersecurity activities to ensure a unity of effort.”

“The cyber threat landscape is shifting in real-time, and we have reached a historic turning point,” said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a statement. “Digital security is now converging with personal and physical security, and it is clear that our cyber adversaries can now threaten the very fabric of our republic itself.”

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