When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the findings of a State Department review and laid out a new strategic vision for the agency, WikiLeaks, which published a trove of secret and, often, embarrassing diplomatic cables was the elephant in the room.
So, it’s no surprise the State Department’s reorganization will include new posts, including, notably, a coordinator for cybersecurity. One of the coordinator’s main duties will be to help keep classified information secret, according to Federal News Radio.
The cybersecurity post is just one of many changes described by Clinton, following the department’s first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.
Clinton, who called the new plans “a blueprint for how our country can lead in a changing world,†said the new mission of the State Deptartment would be to harness what she called “civilian power,†according to The Washington Post.
That includes hiring 5,500 new personnel, through new hires as well as shifting around the current workforce, and streamlining the leadership structure, NPR reports.
The announcement of the State Deptartment cyber post comes just a few days after two New York lawmakers in a televised news conference urged the president to bolster the department’s cybersecurity efforts.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who said the spate of cyber mischief and outright attacks surrounding the WikiLeaks disclosures, made cybersecurity, especially in the diplomatic realm, a pressing need.
