Former National Security Adviser to Head Cyber Panel

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday named Thomas Donilon, the former national security adviser, to chair a special commission to develop a long-term cybersecurity strategy.

Donilon, 60, will chair the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, a group of private industry representatives tasked with making recommendations on how to deal with cyberthreats. The commission is part of the administration's $19 billion Cybersecurity National Action Plan, which Obama outlined in his proposed budget last week. Sam Palmisano, 64, the former chief executive of IBM, was named vice chair of the commission.

In remarks from the White House Wednesday, Obama said the secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce will work with the commission, and additional names will be announced from academia, the private sector and the national security sector.

The commission's "goal is going to be to produce a report no later than December 1st that will advise not just me but the next administration, and potentially administrations after that, in terms of how we deal with this problem," Obama said.

Donilon has also served as vice president of law and policy at Fannie Mae and as a partner at O'Melveny & Myers.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which has worked to develop a cybersecurity assessment framework for critical infrastructure sectors, will support the commission as it prepares a plan to be delivered to Obama by the end of the year.

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