Before joining the ITAA in 2003, Garcia served as a member of the professional staff at the House Science Subcommittee on Research, where he was involved in programs related to IT. Garcia has also worked in the private sector with 3Com Corp. and served as the coalition manager for a group called the Americans for Computer Privacy.

The announcement would put an end to a search that began last October when DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the creation of the new position in a bid to elevate the importance of cybersecurity issues within the agency.

Since then, the DHS has been under increasing pressure from industry groups and lawmakers to fill the position expeditiously. Just last week, lawmakers suggested that the delay in finding someone for the job had considerably weakened the agency's ability to coordinate a response strategy to a cyberattack against the nation's critical infrastructure.

During the hearing, which was conducted by the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said that the failure to fill the position conveyed a "lack of appreciation" of the nation's cyberthreats. At the same hearing, DHS Undersecretary for Preparedness George Foresman said the agency was in the final stages of reviewing the credentials of a "very qualified" individual for the job.

The lack of a senior-level person to lead cybersecurity efforts at the DHS has led to a situation where the agency's "vision, priorities and programs" were not coming together, Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance in Arlington, Va., said last week.