Former Air Force general named first U.S. cyber security chief

President Obama signs a bill.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Gregory Touhill, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, has been named by the White House as the first federal cyber security chief.

There have been several recent high profile breaches, with U.S. intelligence officials suspecting Russia of masterminding hacks of state election systems and Democratic political organizations, and Touhill will be charged with protecting government networks and infrastructure from cyber threats, conducting periodic audits to test for weaknesses, and implementing best security practices across federal agencies, Reuters reports. The position was announced by President Obama in February, and because it's a political appointment, Touhill could be replaced next January when the next president takes office.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.