Bush Seeks IT Security Advice

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

Representatives of Akamai, Symantec and Intel will serve on a new White House panel aimed at safeguarding government and commercial IT systems.

Appointed by President Bush, the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NIAC), also includes members of the banking and finance, transportation, energy,
and manufacturing sectors as well as academia, state and local government, and law enforcement.

Richard K. Davidson will serve as chairman of the NIAC. He is currently the chairman, president and CEO of Union Pacific Corp.

A White House spokesman was not immediately available to discuss how the members are chosen, or in what form the recommendations will come.

George Conrades, chairman and CEO of Akamai, a Cambridge, Mass., maker of Internet content delivery systems, said stregthening the country’s information
systems “is vital to reducing vulnerabilities and increasing our capabilities to respond to new threats.”

In addition to Davidson and Conrades, other NIAC members are:

Alfred R. Berkeley III, Vice Chairman, NASDAQ Stockmarket
Martin G. McGuinn, Chairman and CEO, Mellon Financial
Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman and CEO, Wells Fargo 
L. George Martinez, Chairman, Sterling Bank and Sterling Bancshares 
Charles O. Holliday, Jr., Chairman and CEO, DuPont
Margaret Grayson, President and CEO, V-ONE 
John W. Thompson, Chairman and CEO, Symantec 
Thomas E. Noonan, Chairman, President and CEO, Internet Security Systems
Craig R. Barrett, CEO, Intel 
Enrique Hernandez, Jr., President and CEO, Inter-Con Security Systems 
Maynard G. Webb, COO, e-Bay 
Erle Nye, Chairman and CEO, TXU 
Marilyn Ware, Chairman, American Waterworks
Archie W. Dunham, Chairman, ConocoPhillips 
Donald John Carty, Chairman and CEO, American Airlines 
Thomas H. Weidemeyer, COO, UPS 
Linwood H. Rose, President, James Madison University 
William F. Owens, Governor of Colorado 
Jorge Santini, Mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico 
Raymond W. Kelly, Police Commissioner, City of New York 
Gilbert G. Gallegos, Chief of Police, Albuquerque New Mexico 
Karen Katen, President, Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals and Executive Vice President, Pfizer