White House cybersecurity chief is proud to know nothing about cybersecurity

Even if their intentions are good, there's a reason that we don't let amateurs do brain surgery or design housing complexes. That logic doesn't seem to apply at the highest levels of government, however, after Michael Daniel boasted that about his lack of knowledge in his specialist field. In an interview with GovInfoSec, the White House cybersecurity co-ordinator has revealed that he's not technically-minded, but that he doesn't "have to be a coder in order to do really well." He added that "being too down in the weeds at a technical level could actually be a bit of a distraction." Sure, being able to see the wood for the trees when you're in charge of the nation's electronic safety is a good thing, but as Princeton's Ed Felten remarked, there'd be uproar if the attorney general bragged about a lack of legal expertise. Maybe we'll start working on our application to become the next surgeon general, after all, we have seen at least four episodes of ER.