The White House is planning to nominate a former intelligence agency chairman and a high-ranking Commerce Department official to shape the way information technology is used in the fight against terrorism, according to government and technology industry sources.
James Clapper, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, will be nominated to lead the department"s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) division. He would be responsible not only for IT security, but also for getting often competing intelligence agencies to pool their data.
Steven Cooper will serve as chief information officer, taking on essentially the same role he had for the past year in the White House Office of Homeland Security. Cooper will be responsible for integrating disparate information technology systems from 24 agencies that are moving into the new department.
The White House also will name a chief privacy officer for the department, responding to comments from lawmakers, civil liberties groups and the public that defending against terrorism should not compromise privacy rights.
The board plans to release a national cybersecurity strategy later this month or in early February.