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DHS' turn in the hot seat

One popular line from the "Seinfeld" TV show ponders the ramifications of responsibility. Jerry asks, "Who wants to be responsible? Whenever anything goes wrong, the first thing they ask is: Who's responsible for this?" Last week, lawmakers poked into the Homeland Security Department's cybersecurity measures and asked, "Who's responsible for this?"

Unfortunately for Scott Charbo, DHS' chief information officer, lawmakers looked to him for an answer.

DHS and Charbo got their turn in the hot seat last week because of the agency's troubled cybersecurity systems.

During a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee's Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee, lawmakers and auditors took DHS officials to task for failing to address even the low-hanging fruit.

"It was a shock and a disappointment to learn that the Department of Homeland Security — the agency charged with being the lead in our national cybersecurity — has suffered so many significant security incidents on its networks," said Rep. James Langevin (D-R.I.), the subcommittee's chairman.
DHS reported 844 cybersecurity incidents in fiscal 2005 and 2006. And lawmakers implied that DHS has been lucky rather than necessarily good.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) took to the airwaves last week to equate Charbo with Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "He is clearly a long ways away from being the best-qualified person for the job," Thompson told Federal News Radio.

For his part, Charbo said DHS was making progress. He added that the agency, which has been largely decentralized, has a new governance model that gives the CIO control of the purse strings and, therefore, more control over the agency.

Thompson, at least, was not convinced. "Our committee was very disappointed with his testimony," he said.

So who else wants to be responsible?