An Issaquah resident and business owner has been picked by President Obama to serve as national cybersecurity director.

The president pledged to make cybersecurity an integral part of his overall security plan, and was personally involved in the process of selecting Howard Schmidt as director.

Schmidt is the CEO of R & H Security Consulting, an Issaquah-based firm. He lives in the Mirrormont neighborhood, and has previously worked for the FBI, Microsoft and eBay.

He is the president of the Information Security Forum, a consortium of 300 large corporations and public-sector organizations working on cybersecurity issues, and was a cyber-adviser in President George W. Bush’s administration.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, early in his career Schmidt served as chief security officer at Microsoft.

A spokesperson for the White House said that Schmidt will have regular and direct access to the President for cybersecurity issues.

Cybersecurity is becoming a significant threat to US operations overseas and domestically.

It was revealed last week that Iraqi and Afghani soldiers had hacked into live video feeds from US fighter drones, known as “Predators.”

The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Iraqi militants had downlinked the video feeds using cheap and freely available software.

The nation’s cyber security vulnerabilities have been highlighted in recent months, with a number of high profile breaches, into a high-tech fighter jet program, and an electrical grid. Last month hackers paralyzed U.S and South Korean government Web sites in a computer attack.

Schmidt’s selection followed more than 10 months of deliberation.