Although at least four applicants have met with Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael Jackson, an administration official told United Press International on condition of anonymity that none of them were still being considered for the post.

"No one is really in the running at the moment," the official said.

The four candidates were Richard Baich, the chief information security officer for Alpharetta, Ga.-based ChoicePoint, Corp.; White House Office of Management and Budget official Glenn Schlarman; Doug Maughan, the program manager for cyber security research and development at the Department of Homeland Security; and former Air Force intelligence and National Security Council official Gregory Rattray.

"None of them fit the bill," said the official.

The broad range of experience and skill sets and relatively junior status of the four have led some to question whether the new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security has a sufficiently clear focus on the post-holder's role.

The job is now a little different from the one that the first, and so far last homeland security cyber czar, Amit Yoran, left in September 2004 on the first anniversary of his appointment. After several nudges from lawmakers in the House, and vocal pressure from industry, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff elevated the post to the assistant secretary level earlier this year.

But critics say the change hasn't fixed the problems whoever is appointed will face.

"The department does not have a very good reputation as an employer," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., told United Press International when asked why finding a suitable candidate had been so difficult. "It has a terrible reputation in Silicon Valley."

"Those who have tried to do something in the cyber-security space have had miserable experiences," adds Lofgren, whose bill to make the cyber post an assistant secretary position -- co-sponsored by Republican Mac Thornberry, also of California -- never became law but helped jog Chertoff's elbow as he considered the major departmental reorganization dubbed Second Stage Review.

Lofgren won't say exactly whose "miserable experiences" she's referring to, but press reports at the time suggested that Yoran had quit the post in frustration. He himself remains discreet on the question of his own time at the department, but is happy to discuss the preconditions for success that any appointee will need.

"The right person can succeed in the job if the department defines its mission on cyber-security better," he said.

Yoran added that it is "unclear, in my opinion, exactly what authorities the department has" in the area, given the roles and responsibilities of the Office of Management and Budget, the Defense Department and other federal agencies.

"Only a certain amount can be achieved within the department," he said.

For that reason, he said, the ideal candidate should have the "strong administrative skills" needed inside the federal behemoth -- to be able to "work in the world's largest bureaucracy and get the job done."

Paul Kurtz, of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a lobby that represents the top companies in the field, agreed that the eventual appointee needed to be someone who "knew how to move the levers of the government."

Kurtz added the post-holder must be "someone really focused on execution, on actually moving the ball down the field," as opposed to an evangelist employing the bully pulpit.

"We all get it," he said. "We all understand the importance of the issue."

What was needed now, he said, was "a pretty strong guy. Someone with either enough contacts and experience or enough stature to get people (in different agencies) executing on their priorities."

Yoran added that it should be a person focused on the nitty gritty. "The key to success will be specificity," he said, recalling that the most successful programs he initiated while at the department were "very small and very tactical."

Lofgren said that the best candidate would also need to be able to work with the private sector.

"Most cyber security activity is not within the government," she said.

But working with the private sector might also involve hard choices, and Kurtz called the ability to set priorities one of the requirements for success."

A successful incumbent would need to establish "with which constituents, which forces can the department create the strongest partnerships," said Yoran, adding that the temptation to "try to be all things to all people" was "allure for the department."

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