Unclear on the concept

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that she was appointing Philip Reitinger to the position of deputy undersecretary of the department's National Protections Program Directorate. The job requires Reitinger to oversee the protection of the government's computer networks and work with the private sector to help secure critical infrastructures. Reitinger comes to DHS from his job as chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist for Microsoft, a job that required him in part to help develop and implement strategies for enhancing the security of critical infrastructures. Given Microsoft's contribution(?) to computer security -- the development of the virus industry, the widespread "zombie networks" of Microsoft computers, etc. -- this sort of sounds like appointing a thief to be the comptroller of a bank. But maybe they think, "it takes someone who has experienced terrible security to know what bad security is"? Talk about unclear on the concept!

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin