Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. May 21, 2007. Please go to Corrections & Clarifications to see what has changed.
You could say that the Homeland Security Department’s Greg Garcia has a single-track mind because he’s focused on one thing: protecting the country’s critical information technology infrastructure from multiple simultaneous cyberattacks.
When Garcia took the newly created assistant secretary position that oversees the 240-person Office of Cyber Security and Communications at DHS, he saw only the big picture and not the daunting details of his job — much to the delight of the cybersecurity community.
“What really pleased me was that rather than focusing on the technical things, he was focused on the larger-picture point of view,” said Guy Copeland, vice president of information infrastructure advisory programs at Computer Sciences Corp.
As assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications, Garcia is responsible for advising and coordinating the public and private organizations that handle the country’s vast infrastructure of information and communications systems. His coordination role contributes to national security because the private sector owns 85 percent of the country’s critical infrastructure.
DHS officials spent almost a year trying to fill the position, making some members of Congress unhappy. Garcia was named to the post in September 2006, largely because of his experience as vice president of information security programs at the IT Association of America. Before that, Garcia worked on IT security issues as a staff member on the House Science Committee.
Meanwhile, congressional expectations for Garcia’s leadership are high. “The agency has an enormous amount of work ahead of it,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said last year in a letter about Garcia’s appointment.
Garcia said he is somewhat nervous about the job, especially because he has no immediate predecessors. “There is no blueprint for success,” he said.
Nonetheless, Garcia is confident that he knows what must be done to secure the national infrastructure. Close collaboration is most important, he said. Garcia believes the connections he fostered as an industry liaison for the House committee give him a big advantage.
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