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CYBERSECURITY POST TO BE IN RIDGE'S DEPARTMENT

The Bush administration plans to appoint a new cybersecurity chief for the government inside the Department of Homeland Security, replacing a position once held by a special adviser to the president. Industry leaders worry that the new post will not be powerful enough.

The move reflects an effort to appease frustrated technology executives over what they consider a lack of White House attention to hackers, cyberterror and other Internet threats.

Officials have outlined their intentions privately in recent weeks to lawmakers, technology executives and lobbyists.

The new position, expected to be announced formally within two weeks, is drawing early criticism over its placement deep inside the agency's organizational chart. The nation's new cyberchief will be at least three steps beneath Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

"It won't work. It's not a senior enough position," said Richard A. Clarke, Bush's top cyberspace adviser until he retired this year after nearly three decades with the government.

The plan is consistent with Ridge's unease over elevating cybersecurity concerns above the security of airports, buildings, bridges and pipelines.

The agency currently lumps both of those issues under its Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection unit, one of five directorates in Homeland Security.

The new cyberchief will be responsible for carrying out dozens of recommendations in the administration's "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," a set of proposals put together under Clarke just before his departure.

That plan, completed in February, is drawing criticism from technology executives because it emphasizes voluntary measures to improve computer security for home users, corporations, universities and government agencies.