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Here’s the readout of the president’s cyber summit with CEOs

Around the same time millions of people around the world were waiting for the new pope to appear on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica today, U.S. President Barack Obama was talking cyber security with the CEOs of 13 major American corporations. (It should be noted that most of the businesses are banks, energy firms, ...

By John Reed

March 13, 2013, 11:15 PM

Around the same time millions of people around the world were waiting for the new pope to appear on the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica today, U.S. President Barack Obama was talking cyber security with the CEOs of 13 major American corporations.

Around the same time millions of people around the world were waiting for the new pope to appear on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica today, U.S. President Barack Obama was talking cyber security with the CEOs of 13 major American corporations.

(It should be noted that most of the businesses are banks, energy firms, transportation companies, defense contractors and communication providers — businesses that might be classified as critical infrastructure providers.)

The meeting came one day after the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) released its annual World Wide Threat Assessment — with cyber warfare at the top of the list, ahead of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. It also comes a day after the head of U.S. Cyber Command, Army Gen. Keith Alexander unveiled more information about the military’s offensive capabilities and warned that a major, destructive cyber attack could cause more damage than the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, when unveiling the IC’s threat assessment, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper played down the risk of a catastrophic cyber attack, calling it "remote."

Anyway, here’s the White House’s readout of the president’s meeting to discuss cyber with CEOs. Enjoy.

This afternoon, a group of CEOs met in the Situation Room with senior White House and NSC officials to discuss cybersecurity and the threat it poses to our economy and our security. The President joined this meeting to demonstrate the importance he and his Administration place on the issue of cybersecurity. Today’s meeting was part of the Administration’s ongoing dialogue with the private sector on cybersecurity.

The President and the CEOs discussed the increasing cyber threats to our critical infrastructure and our economy. They discussed the efforts the U.S. Government is taking to address these threats, including diplomatic engagement and the President’s recently signed Executive Order. The President and the CEOs discussed how the government and private sector can build on our cooperation to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. And finally, they discussed the need for cybersecurity legislation to enable government and industry to more effectively address these cyber threats.

The following CEOs attended:

Nicholas Akins, President and CEO, American Electric Power Company, Inc.

Ursula Burns, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox Corporation

Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman Corporation

Clarence Cazalot, Chairman, President and CEO, Marathon Oil Corporation

David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell International, Inc.

Scott Davis, Chairman and CEO, United Parcel Service, Inc.

James Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JP Morgan Chase & Co.

David Melcher, CEO and President, ITT Exelis

Brian Moynihan, President and CEO, Bank of America Corporation

Eric Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens Corporation

Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T Inc.

Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil

Maggie Wilderotter, Chairman and CEO, Frontier Communications

John Reed is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He comes to FP after editing Military.com’s publication Defense Tech and working as the associate editor of DoDBuzz. Between 2007 and 2010, he covered major trends in military aviation and the defense industry around the world for Defense News and Inside the Air Force. Before moving to Washington in August 2007, Reed worked in corporate sales and business development for a Swedish IT firm, The Meltwater Group in Mountain View CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter at the Tracy Press and the Scotts Valley Press-Banner newspapers in California. His first story as a professional reporter involved chasing escaped emus around California’s central valley with Mexican cowboys armed with lassos and local police armed with shotguns. Luckily for the giant birds, the cowboys caught them first and the emus were ok. A New England native, Reed graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a dual degree in international affairs and history.

Tag: Cyber Security & Hacking