Communications of the ACM
Icann Hires Former Cybersecurity Chief as New Ceo
Rob Beckstrom, the new CEO of ICANN, said his experience at NSA will help him deal with "warring factions in the Internet policy front."
Credit: National Security Agency
Rod Beckstrom, the former director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Center, has been chosen to replace Paul Twomey as the CEO of ICANN. Beckstrom, who resigned from the center in March due to budgetary problems and conflicts over whether the National Security Agency should control Internet security efforts, will assume the role of CEO on July 1. Twomey, meanwhile, will become senior president of ICANN and will stay with the organization until the end of the year to help with the transition.
As the former director of the National Cybersecurity Center, Beckstrom will bring cybersecurity experience to ICANN. However, Beckstrom has little direct experience in dealing with domain names and general Internet addressing issues, which ICANN is primarily responsible for doing. But Beckstrom said in an interview that his other experiences, including creating a global peace network in which corporate CEOs work to promote trade and open borders in conflict areas such as the border between India and Pakistan, will help him carry out ICANN's primary mission.
"If we can help bring peace between two warring nuclear nations, as our network did, we may even have a chance between some of the warring factions in the Internet policy front," Beckstrom said.
From The Associated Press
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