Phyllis Schneck, deputy under secretary-cybersecurity and communications at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, said today that an effort to reorganize NPDD to more closely align its cybersecurity and infrastructure protection functions is “moving along.”

Speaking at a meeting of the federally-chartered Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, Ms. Schneck said the reorganization effort is “moving along . . . it’s going forward.” Her update on the reorganization followed a scolding of Suzanne Spaulding, the DHS undersecretary in charge of NPPD, by members of the House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity, infrastructure protection, and security technologies subcommittee earlier this month (TRDaily, Oct. 7) who said they had been left in the dark about NPPD’s reorganization plans.

Ms. Spaulding said at the hearing that she understood lawmakers’ “frustration,” that the reorganization plan was far from complete, and that lawmakers will be consulted on its future stages.

Ms. Schneck said today that the planned reorganization “will strengthen [NPPD’s] cyber mission and infrastructure protection mission” by fusing “more of the cyber expertise with the infrastructure protection.”  She said the effort has included the involvement of NPDD employees, and that the directorate “has no plans to fire anyone.” – John Curran, john.curran@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily