Hathaway Resigns as U.S. Cyber-security Chief

Acting cyber-security chief Melissa Hathaway plans to step down later in August, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Hathaway, the acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils, will reportedly resign Aug. 21 for personal reasons. She was once considered a frontrunner for the cyber-security coordinator position President Obama is creating, but she told the Journal that she took her name out of the running two weeks ago. That position remains unfilled.

A holdover from the Bush administration, Hathaway led the 60-day cyber-security review ordered by the president earlier in 2009. At the RSA security conference in April, she told attendees that securing the Internet would require partnerships between the government and the technology industry. Securing cyberspace, she told attendees, is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges the government faces.

"The United States really is at a crossroads," she said at the time. 

The 60-day cyber-security review (PDF) talked about building a framework for incident response, encouraging innovation in the security industry, promoting security awareness and building up the federal IT work force. 

Hathaway told the Journal she still plans to work in the security arena, but did not discuss specifics.