Call for a New U.S. Privacy Czar

America now has a new level in the hierarchy structure within the US government. The position is that of 'czars' which hawks to the old days of having emperors, except they now are emperors of industrial sectors reporting to the king, err I mean president. Granted the czar title isn't official, but that used by media in reference to executive branches having been President appointed without Senate confirmation.

We have never had as many czars in the US as today that control every aspect of the government, currently 38, with most being appointed by the President. There are 4 new czar positions, which include:

• Climate czar, energy czar, global warming czar - Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
• Security czar, cyber czar - Director of the White House Office of Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Coordinator
• Information czar, infotech czar - Chief Information Officer at the White House
• Stimulus accountability, stimulus oversight - Chairman, Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

Whether or not this is a constitutionally accepted position is an argument I'll save for another day. In particular though, I wanted to bring attention to the US 'cybersecurity coordinator' position, or the more used euphemism of Information Security Czar. The issue of information security has been on the agenda of the new administration, which now they believe has direction with the appointing of Howard Schmidt for the role.

The position had been turned down by many individuals for valid reasons. One of the main sticking points by those considered is that there is no budgetary authority therefore requiring the role to have a great deal of politicking if agenda items were to be put into action. It is believed that this position won't have the clout to force government agencies to make changes and adhere to policies.

It is interesting to note, from Mr. Schmidt's acceptance speech, which he and the administration deems as five key areas to be addressed. They are:

• Developing a new comprehensive strategy to secure American networks
• Ensuring an organized unified response to future cyber incidents
• Strengthening public/private partnerships here at home and international partnerships with allies and partners
• Promoting research and development of the next generation of technologies
• Leading a national campaign to promote cybersecurity awareness and education

I believe for the most part that these are good goals on the surface. My chief concern is that security mustn’t overlook privacy when it comes to the citizens. If we were to have czars, then you would have to include the new position of a privacy czar to offset some of the other newly created czar positions. We can only wait and see what these new roles will become and how much power they will sway.