President-elect Donald Trump has named a key adviser on issues of cybersecurity, which is weighing on healthcare officials as the industry continues to be rocked by breaches.
Thomas Bossert, a former George W. Bush administration security adviser, will work independently from the National Security Advisor.
Bossert, who currently works as a private security consultant, will advise the president on issues of homeland security and counterterrorism, which previously were the responsibility of a lower-level deputy security adviser, according to a statement from the Trump camp.
Bossert's focus will be on “domestic and transnational security priorities,” while retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's earlier designee as national security adviser, “remains steadfastly focused on international security challenges,” the statement said.
“Tom brings enormous depth and breadth of knowledge and experience to protecting the homeland to our senior White House team,” Trump said in the statement.
Bossert served in the Bush administration as the deputy homeland security adviser, with duties that included cybersecurity. He also served as deputy director of legislative affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of DHS.
He was named in 2014 as a senior fellow for cyber security risks at the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. The council is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
The appointment comes little more than a month after the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society called on the Obama administration to create the position of chief information security officer at HHS. For the past two years, the healthcare industry has reeled under a record-setting number of hacking incidents and ransomware attacks compromising the medical records of more than 123 million individuals.
