What's This Mysterious White House Cyber Event About?

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House are putting together what people in the industry bill as some sort of a "major" event on cyber security on Wednesday, but the White House hasn't said word one about it to the press. So, from the Internet Security Alliance, here's a press release that helpfully fills in some of the details:

The Internet Security Alliance President Larry Clinton has been invited to attend a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, July 14 being hosted by US Cyber Coordinator Howard Schmidt and featuring the Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Honorable Gary Locke, Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

The stated purpose of the meeting is a review and discussion of the activities since President Obama released his "Cyber Space Policy Review" last spring.

ISA was a major participator in the development of the "Cyber Space Policy Review." The very first source cited in the Review is the ISA Social Contract for Cyber Security and the Executive Summary both begins and ends by citing the ISA. In addition with more than a dozen ISA white papers cited within the President's document.  ISA has sought to follow up on the programs outlined in that document with the White House, Department of Homeland Security and the Commerce Department, as well as other agencies.

The inclusion of Commerce Sec. Gary Locke is very key -- the White House is determined not to over-militarize cyber security, and as the debate in Congress about securing critical infrastructure reaches an inflection point, they'd like as much industry buy in as possible.