Calling the Homeland Security Department “incapable of doing anything to save the civilian IT infrastructure,” former White House cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke today called on software users and buyers to set security standards themselves. “You can’t count on the government to defend critical networks,” Clarke said at the National Information Assurance Leadership Conference in Washington sponsored by the SANS Institute of Bethesda, Md. “I thought it was impossible to put together five cybersecurity organizations [in DHS] and get less than the sum of their parts, but the agencies have played games,” Clarke said in a keynote speech. “The Defense Department and FBI have held back billets or have nobody in them. The National Infrastructure Protection Center and National Communications System are less today than they were a year ago. DHS can’t find anyone to fill the only full-time job in IT security.” Full Story