NIST security division expands role

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division will be playing a significant role in the Bush administration's cybersecurity strategy, according to Howard Schmidt, acting chairman of the President's Cybersecurity Board.

The NIST division did not move to the new Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) Directorate at the Homeland Security Department (DHS), as originally set out in the White House's plan.

Discussions are under way to determine how the organization can and will contribute to the implementation of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, Schmidt said. "Their role will be bigger now than it ever has been in the past," he said.

Schmidt also is working with the recently appointed IAIP directorate leaders to make sure that all of the work being done by the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board — dissolved in a February executive order — is carried over into DHS.

DHS Secretary Tom Ridge has met with the group several times to ensure that none of work is lost in the transition, Schmidt said.