A Crazy Idea Regarding the Obama Administration and Security

I have a wicked crazy idea.

What if we in the information security community were to organize a campaign to get level-headed, rational thinkers into positions of influence (as advisors) to Obama’s administration. I’m thinking of people like Lawrence Lessig (who I understand is a friend of Obama already), and Bruce Schneier.

I actually pitched the idea to Bruce Schneier in person at the Security Bloggers Meetup at RSA this year. He was on his way out, so we didn’t like go into it, but he told me he’d be interested. So then I called Rich Mogull and asked him what he thought. He had some good input on the topic, and he then clued me in on the Lessig angle.

The Pitch

The United States needs to fundamentally revisit how it approaches security. We need to incorporate more of Schneier’s approach, i.e. addressing risks based on their true weight rather than the weight our irrational human minds assign to them. And Obama is the type of person who can 1) understand this concept, and 2) might actually take action.

Imagine no more wasted millions on security measures that have virtually no effectiveness. And think of what we could do if we invested that money in measures that could actually make a difference.

Obama can do this. He’s our best shot at a leader who will listen to logic. And we, in this small but talented and vocal community, could perhaps organize a meeting between some true experts and Obama’s people.

Think about it. Lessig, Ranum, Scheier, Bejtlich…overseeing (or at least advising) a logical overhaul (with others in his staff of course) of our existing and antiquated approaches to security.

What do you guys think?