Snowe: Cybersecurity coordinator lacks accountability

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) criticized the Obama administration Tuesday for appointing a cybersecurity coordinator who cannot testify before Congress. Sen Snowe noted that absent from the hearing was Howard Schmidt, who President Obama appointed in December as the nation's first cybersecurity coordinator. "In his position, he's a member of the National Security Council and cannot testify," Sen Snowe said in an interview after the hearing. "Given the significance of this issue ... it really needs to rise to a different level."

The committee heard from former federal cybersecurity officials and other experts who sounded alarm bells that the nation is failing to mount an effective defense against attacks on critical infrastructure networks, such as those in the nation's financial industry, telecommunications system and electrical grid. "If the nation went to war today in a cyber war, we would lose," said retired Adm. Michael McConnell, who served as director of national intelligence in the Bush administration. "We're the most vulnerable. We're the most connected. We have the most to lose."