The acting director of cybersecurity in U.S. President Barack Obama’s White House, Melissa Hathaway, will resign, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Hathaway, main author of a wide-ranging government cybersecurity review released in late May, would leave the White House Aug. 24, the Wall Street Journal said.
Hathaway was often mentioned as a top candidate for a new White House cybersecurity czar position recommended in her cybersecurity plan. She resigned for personal reasons, the Journal reported.
Hathaway’s cybersecurity review also recommended that the U.S. government make cybersecurity a top management priority, conduct a large cybersecurity education campaign, better work with private businesses on incident response and establish performance metrics for cybersecurity improvement.
Before Obama was elected president, Hathaway served in former President George Bush’s administration. She was senior adviser to Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence for Bush. Before her government service, Hathaway was a cybersecurity consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.
The White House press office didn’t return a phone call seeking comment on Hathaway’s resignation.