Howard Schmidt to step down as White House Cyber Czar

White House Cyber Czar Howard Schmidt is stepping down after two-and-a-half years in the role.

He is retiring to spend more time with his family and to pursue teaching in the cyber field, according to the Washington Post. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Schmidt had signed up for a two year stint, but had agreed to stay on a little longer. 

Schmidt was president of the Information Security Forum and based in the UK when he was named as US national cybersecurity coordinator in December 2009. Since then, he has overseen the creation of the White House’s first legislative proposal on cybersecurity and been one of the driving forces behind a plan to verify individual identities online called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).