Howard Schmidt, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator

Published: Jan. 27, 2010, 9:16 p.m.

b'Busy first week includes lots of meetings, but none with Obama.\\n\\n

Howard Schmidt hit the road running last week as he started his new job as the long-awaited White House cybersecurity coordinator.\\n\\n

In an impromptu interview with GovInfoSecurity.com Eric Chabrow and other reporters at the State of the Internet Conference in Washington, sponsored by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, Schmidt said there were no surprises in the busy first week on the job.\\n\\n

President Obama promised when he created the job that he would meet periodically with the cybersecurity adviser, but no such meeting occurred the first week. Still, Schmidt had his hands full meeting with top IT leaders in government, key lawmakers and military cybersecurity brass. \\n\\n

The "Chris" Schmidt refers to in the interview is Chris Painter, who had served as White House acting senior director for cybersecurity from September until Schmidt began his job. \\n\\n

Also see Schmidt: Internet Safer Than in Past, our story on his debut speech as White House cybersecurity coordinator.'