A retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, Gregory Touhill has been named as the first federal Cybersecurity chief of the United States government, The White House on Thursday.
The government announced this position after a series of high-profile breaches into the government network and has been announced eight months ago which intends to improve the cyber security and defenses against hackers.
From the previous year, the Obama government has been increasingly stressing the need for stronger cybersecurity, and he created a new position of a federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in February. A budget proposal of $19 billion has been passed for cybersecurity, Reuters reported.
According to the statement, the role of new cybersecurity chief will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber threats. Grant Schneider, the director of cybersecurity policy at the White House’s National Security Council, will be his deputy.
Touhill is currently working with the Department of Homeland Security as a deputy assistant secretary for cyber security and communications.
He will take up his office from later this month.