White House cybersecurity chief resigns

Richard Clarke, President Bush's special adviser on cybersecurity, confirmed to colleagues in an e-mail sent on Thursday that he plans to resign, the Associated Press reported Friday.

In the e-mail, sent to the operators of Internet early-warning centers, Clarke said that Bush has formally endorsed the national strategy to secure cyberspace and that it will be publicly released within the next few weeks.

He also said he would be seeking a job in the private sector following his departure from the Bush administration. Clarke has spent the past 11 years in the White House working on counterterrorism and other security matters. On the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he was national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection and counterterrorism at the White House's National Security Council.