Homeland Security Revamps Cyber Arm

Inside DHS' Classified Cyber-Coordination Headquarters

The National Protection and Programs Directorate, the Department of Homeland Security agency that handles many of the government's cybersecurity responsibilities is about to get a makeover in the wake of the departure of former deputy undersecretary Phil Reitinger. The directorate, among other things, is in works to secure federal civilian agency networks and coordinate cybersecurity with the private sector.

In an email obtained by InformationWeek, DHS undersecretary Rand Beers announced to staff that, in response to "the growing importance of cybersecurity to DHS and the nation as a whole," DHS is splitting Reitinger's former job in two. DHS will now have one new deputy undersecretary position that exclusively deals with cybersecurity and another that helps protect critical infrastructure, secures federal facilities, and the manages the US-VISIT biometric identity management system used to identify and track foreign visitors.

Beers wrote that the agency would "shortly" announce the name of the permanent deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity, but in the interim, Greg Schaffer, a former Alltel and PricewaterhouseCoopers exec who had been Reitinger's second-in-command since 2009, will serve as acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity.

[ The federal government is seeking help in fighting cyber criminals. Read: Feds Seek Advice To Battle Botnets ]

The DHS has taken on a growing role in cybersecurity over the last several years. "This position will help the directorate ensure robust operations and strengthened partnerships in the constantly evolving field of cybersecurity," Beers wrote in the email, the authenticity of which was confirmed by a DHS spokesman.

Whoever takes the new position will have to deal with significant recent turnover in top leadership. In addition to the departure of Reitinger, Sean McGurk, the former director of DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, left his post effective last Friday, and Randy Vickers, former director of the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), abruptly resigned in July.

In managing US-VISIT, facilities security, and DHS' work with critical infrastructure sectors, the other new deputy undersecretary job, to be filled by long-time intelligence community and congressional staffer Suzanne Spaulding, will continue to have IT-related responsibilities.

Spaulding, who will join DHS in October, was most recently a principal for the Bingham Consulting Group. Spaulding has served as senior counsel to former Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., a top staffer for both the House of Representatives' and Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, assistant general counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and a member of numerous government commissions on national security issues.

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