Beers noted that to properly fulfill its information security mission, the DHS has to work with several Departments including Treasury, Defense, Commerce and Justice. "To protect the U.S. government from cyber intrusions will require us working with all of those departments and agencies. Sometimes, I'm sorry to say we need help to get people to play in the same sandbox," which is where a White House coordinator can help, he said.

The discussion over the DHS' likely role is just a preview of the . Currently civilian federal agencies, defense communities and the DHS are all working on separate and disparate missions on the cybersecurity front.

Though it is not clear yet what clout exactly the new coordinator will have, many expect the biggest challenge the appointee will face is getting all these stakeholders to agree and work on a common cybersecurity mission.