President Barack Obama appointed Howard Schmidt as the new White House Cyber Security Czar in December 2009. It’s an important position. This is the man charged with protecting the country and its citizens from cyber warfare.

What can we learn about Schmidt in five minutes using only the web? Here goes…

• He’s worked for some well-known and innovative companies including Microsoft and eBay.
• He has a military and government background. He once worked for the Air Force, George W. Bush Administration, FBI, served in Vietnam, and was once a police officer in Arizona.
• Upon taking his post, he made headlines when he told WIRED there was “no cyberwar“
• Others declined the Cyber Czar position before Schmidt accepted.
• There are questions about whether Schmidt has authority in this post. It seems he will have to report to more than once boss– which seems to go against the grain of a true “czar.”
• He may or may not have a Twitter account. I found one with his picture, name and corresponding tweets about meeting with the president. But it is unverified and only has 112 followers.
• If it is his Twitter account, he knows how to attach pictures, tweets about family, but fails to tweet often.
• There’s a disappointing video release from the White House. Schmidt sits in front of a camera and reads his bio.

Most of the information came from obvious sources like Wikipedia and the Washington Post. But I haven’t gotten a good feel for what he brings to the table. How great would it be to show a day in the life of our Cyber Security Czar (and better yet, have that story appear at the top of a search engine)?

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