Obama names leaders of federal cybersecurity commission

President Obama has appointed former White House national security adviser Tom Donilon and former IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano to lead a new commission to strengthen U.S. cyber defences over the next decade.

Obama set up the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity this month and sought $19 billion for cybersecurity across government in his annual budget proposal, a $5 billion increase over the previous year.

In an address from the Oval Office, Obama said Donilon will bring to the commission his vast knowledge of government, national security challenges and intelligence systems, while Palmisano brings a private-sector perspective on the digital world and its economic components.

Additional members of the commission will be selected from academia, the private sector and the national security community. They will work directly with cabinet secretaries on the implementation of the administration's plan.

The commission is tasked with producing a report for the White House, no later than Dec. 1, that will address everything from keeping federal databases and critical infrastructure more secure, to providing the general public with timely and continuously updated information on cybersecurity best practices, said Obama.

"This is going to be a big agenda, a long-term agenda that is extremely complicated, extremely technical and is going to require us to overhaul a bunch of legacy systems that are already in place," he said.

The commission's report will focus on “the long-term challenges that we face, the systems we need to build, and can set a clear sense of direction for the federal government, working in concert with the private sector, state and local actors.”