At the Black Hat technology security convention in Las Vegas this month, Dixon and others on a joint government-industry panel discussed recommendations they were drafting for the next president.
Members of the panel, convened by the Center for International and Strategic Studies, said that cyber security should be a priority because the country is under attack from organized hackers. But they said that during his first hundred days in office, John McCain or Barack Obama would be far more likely to tackle high-profile voter concerns -- the economy, Iraq, education, housing -- than cyber security.
As if to underscore the gap, the government's latest point man on cyber safety used a keynote address the next day to discuss economic theory, explain why Abraham Lincoln was the nation's "first wired president" and dismiss calls for the financial industry and others to beef up security spending.
"Over time, the banking industry is pretty rational," said Rod Beckstrom, director of the new National Cyber Security Center, which is part of Homeland Security. "So they're probably doing a good job on investment."
He added that private security spending in general was probably at about the right level.
In the hallway afterward, executives grumbled that Lincoln had nothing to do with protecting their corporate networks.
A position paper outlining McCain's technology policy platform, released by his campaign this month, barely mentions security. It says that the Republican candidate is for privacy and against spam and fraud. It also says his "record reflects the careful balance between protecting the essential elements of the Internet and securing the Internet as a safe tool of commerce, education and entertainment for our citizens."
Democrat Obama's platform doesn't differ much on security, although it calls for restrictions on how databases of information on citizens can be used and for the appointment of a federal chief technology officer to coordinate infrastructure efforts.
Outsiders urge far more action.
Security expert Bruce Schneier, in his monthly newsletter, said that any new cyber-security czar should have budget authority. He also said that the government needed to demand more security in the products it buys and undo laws protecting software companies from liability lawsuits.
