While I am the Vice President of ISSA in Los Angeles, these comments are my own personal ones. And yes I have not only heard Howard Schmidt speak on a couple of occasions, met the man personally, but have friends that have known him since his days in the military. None of them would ever think to call him a lightweight.

Yes Howard Schmidt is the past president of ISSA. Did he do a great job leading it in its growth, very much so. Did he do a good job at Microsoft? Since I have never worked for him directly, and I have no idea of the inner workings at Microsoft, I have no basis to judge his performance. Some of the comments I see here fail to understand the difference between management and technical people. Howard Schmidt's current, and past employers put him in a position where it was his job to educate senior management at large corporations as to the risks that are out there. It was not his job to show them how to load virus software, nor to deploy an IDS. His job is to convey the need to keep security at the forefront of your boss?s attention, and thusly, keeping you employed. Instead of taking swipes at an individual you probably never met, worked for, or have a full biography on his real accomplishment, use your time better to educate your community at large as to how to be better aware of current security issues.

Have you ever tried to explain to your upper management what a sys-flood is? How soon did that glassy-eyed look take over as your technical speak totally lost and confused him? Howard Schmidt can easily explain to your upper management exactly why security is important, in terms they can understand, without being confused at technical speak. That is his job!

Steve Robinson,
www.issa-la.org



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