Melissa Hathaway is leaving this month for personal reasons, according to The Wall Street Journal. She had been serving as the acting czar after completing a cybersecurity review for President Obama.

Hathaway reports to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, which the Journal cited as a reason some cybersecurity experts said candidates have shown tepid interest in the permanent position.

Hathaway formerly was a Bush administration aide and was named the acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils on Feb. 9 to conduct the cyber review.

On May 29, Hathaway posted a blog item at WhiteHouse.gov, summarizing her findings and talking about the need for more security to protect our digital future. She noted that both her sons and her parents are able to access information and communicate from anywhere in the world, but the need for more security is vital.

"Now consider that the same networks that provide this connectively also increasingly help control our critical infrastructure. These networks deliver power and water to our households and businesses, they enable us to access our bank accounts from almost any city in the world, and they are transforming the way our doctors provide healthcare. For all of these reasons, we need a safe Internet with a strong network infrastructure and we as a nation need to take prompt action to protect cyberspace for what we use it for today and will need in the future," Hathaway wrote.

Her 60-day cyberspace policy review included more than 40 meetings and reading more than 100 papers and concluded that every American needs to contribute toward a more secure digital infrastructure.

"It must begin with a national dialogue on cybersecurity and we should start with our family, friends, and colleagues," she wrote. "We are late in addressing this critical national need and our response must be focused, aggressive, and well-resourced.

"Ensuring that cyberspace is sufficiently resilient and trustworthy to support U.S. goals of economic growth, civil liberties and privacy protections, national security, and the continued advancement of democratic institutions requires making cybersecurity a national priority," she added.

Security experts have long lobbied for a national position to set cybersecurity policy, and Obama's creation of the position was seen as a strong move.

"[President Obama] is effectively saying this is a national priority for the White House. It's critical to our long-term safety. The White House and the president are watching," John Stewart, Cisco Systems' chief security officer, told Channelweb.com in May. "If he's watching, then you're working on it."