Melissa Hathaway, Senior Director for Cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Council, gave the House Cyber Security Caucus a briefing Thursday on the status of the administration’s 60 day interagency review of the federal cybersecurity mission.

Hathaway’s review, which is now nearly two-thirds complete, will be the basis of formal administration recommendations to be issued next month.

At a press briefing Thursday afternoon immediately following their attendance at the briefing, Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), chairwoman of the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, and Rep. James R. Langevin (D-RI), co-chair of the House Cyber Security Caucus, provided few concrete details about the review’s specific findings. They expressed optimism, though, over the impact of the forthcoming review in helping to forge consensus and a basis for intragovernmental collaboration on cybersecurity issues.

“Though the review is still ongoing,” said Clarke, “it’s clear the administration is using this opportunity to ask the right questions and address the key issues involved in crafting successful cybersecurity.”

Two core elements of the review, according to Langevin, will be interagency collaboration and the structure of cybersecurity policy governance at the White house level.

Hathaway’s finished review, he said, would include recommendations for an interagency policy committee to include all the government agencies involved in cybersecurity including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Security Agency (NSA).

No single agency will dominate cybersecurity, according to Clarke. “What we heard today made it clear that there will be no king of the table here,” she said.

Over the past month bureaucratic squabbles relating to the proper delegation of cybersecurity authority and responsibility have erupted publically, particularly between DHS and NSA.

In February, Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair told Congress that the NSA, rather than DHS which currently oversees cybersecurity, should take over the government's cybersecurity efforts.

In early March, Rod Beckstrom, National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) director, resigned citing power struggles between the Center and NSA, as well as a lack of funding and support. Beckstrom wrote that, “"the NCSC did not receive appropriate support inside DHS during the last administration to fully realize [its] vital role."

On Wednesday, the day before the briefing, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the senior ranking Republican member on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, released a letter sent to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting the department detail how its budget for NCSS was spent.

Langevin said that according to Hathaway, no decision had been made yet on whether cybersecurity within the executive branch would be run under the aegis of the National Security Council, or whether (as recommended by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in a recent study), a new office within the White House would be given cybersecurity responsibility.

What was very clear from the briefing, according to Langevin, was that cybersecurity will be coordinated out of the White House.

Other important issues the forthcoming recommendations of the review will address include the need to build international cybersecurity protocols, establishment of effective mechanisms for public-private partnerships and a comprehensive “road map” for securing IT networks on which critical infrastructure depends.

Clarke said the review is also expected to focus heavily on how civil liberties and privacy safeguards can be built into cybersecurity policy and maximizing public involvement in cybersecurity through a major public “digital literacy” education campaign.

“We were surprised and really pleased to hear Ms. Hathaway say that the administration was expanding their mission on cybersecurity to include the public, which has received short shrift in the past,” said Langevin.

“Cybersecurity is clearly cutting across all levels of society now,” Clarke said, “whether it’s kids with their Ipods or top secret networks at DOD or DOE. It’s clear that as technology keeps changing cybersecurity will remain a moving target and evolution will depend on full public participation and motivation.”