Measures of Influence

Apparently, a poll of of federal information technology decision-makers suggests they don't think the the federal cybersecurity coordinator is going to be able to push through major changes. Eric Chabrow thinks that this is because in civilian agencies, cybersecurity is sort of siloed, so most IT folks don't perceive that the coordinator will have a big impact on their jobs. But across the functions, the numbers are generally low. Chabrow writes:

Those holding C-level titles were the most likely than other respondents to think the so-called cybersecurity "czar" would make major changes, 31 percent. More than one-quarter of those working in operations (27 percent), security (28 percent) and compliance and risk (28 percent) felt the same. Only 18 percent of respondents classified as working in general IT characterized the cybersecurity coordinator's potential on changing IT security policies as being major.

I wonder if that's an indication that c-level folks are more optimistic about the ability of officials like the coordinator to make change anyway, while rank-and-file folks are less likely to believe that political appointees set to a task like this will be able to institute significant new policies. And the further folks in an occupation classification are from the specific problems the coordinator is going to address, the less likely they may be to believe the changes will be major in such a way to affect their lives.