President Obama today announced plans to name a new U.S. "cyber czar" to oversee the nation's online security efforts. The news accompanies a new report highlighting problems in the way the government handles online security initiatives.

The government report (PDF) cites Microsoft repeatedly, but not in a bad way. Instead, it refers to testimony and research from the Redmond company to back up its contention that sweeping changes are needed in government coordination.

It's a big change from 2005, when people such as former White House adviser Richard Clarke were taking the company to task for Windows security problems. Microsoft has been steadily improving its security practices since the early part of the decade.

Here's an excerpt from today's report.

The Federal government is not organized to address this growing problem effectively now or in the future. Responsibilities for cybersecurity are distributed across a wide array of federal departments and agencies, many with overlapping authorities, and none with sufficient decision authority to direct actions that deal with often conflicting issues in a consistent way. The government needs to integrate competing interests to derive a holistic vision and plan to address the cybersecurity related issues confronting the United States. The Nation needs to develop the policies, processes, people, and technology required to mitigate cybersecurity-related risks.

Obama is expected to name the new cybersecurity czar soon.