Instead, Poizner focused on sharing his experiences as a White House Fellow; the White House Fellows is a selective program for leadership and public service. Through the program, fellows are given the chance to spend a year working for senior White House staff, the president, the vice president and other top government officials. Alumni include Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark.

"It's a well-kept secret," Poizner said about the program. "A lot of people from Silicon Valley don't know about it and don't end up applying."

Poizner, who previously started and ran two of his own technology companies, applied for the program three years ago. The application required an essay on a policy topic and five written recommendations.

During the second round of the application process, Poizner and 100 other applicants were flown to Annapolis, Md., for three days of interviews. Questions ran the gamut, from discussing the International Monetary Fund and its role in Ethiopia to selecting four individuals from history to rebuild the world after a hypothetical nuclear explosion.

Poizner's final question from the panel, however, was the toughest. He was asked to sing, dance or draw a picture so that the interviewers could get a sense of his artistic side.

"I drew a picture of my family and somehow squeezed through that question," he said.

Out of the 100 semifinalists, only 12 applicants were selected to become a White House Fellow. Poizner was one of them.

Because of his background in engineering, Poizner was assigned to work in the National Security Council of Cyberspace Security, then run by Richard Clarke. Poizner started work on Sept. 3, 2001, just eight days before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

A few days after the attack, Clarke asked Poizner if he wanted to be reassigned to the Department of Agriculture in Maryland instead of staying in D.C. Poizner declined.

On hearing Poizner's response, Clarke called one of his Secret Service agents to the room and asked him to train Poizner for a terror threat. The Secret Service agent gave Poizner a gas mask and biohazard suit and asked him to get in the gear within 30 seconds. Poizner said it took him a couple of tries before he could complete the task in the required amount of time.

Poizner and his family also faced the anthrax threat while in D.C.; their mail district was one of several in which anthrax had been found on pieces of mail. The family, however, left right before the D.C. sniper shootings began, something that Poizner said "caused the most psychological damage" to residents that year.

As a White House Fellow, Poizner served as the Director for Critical Infrastructure Protection, developing strategies against cyber terrorism. He was unable to talk about all of his work as a fellow, as some of it remains classified.

During a question-and-answer session with Kiwanis club members, Poizner talked about the war on terror and the security of the United States.

"It's remarkable that there haven't been more attacks here since 9-11," he commented. He also remarked that this war in Iraq is most likely part of "a multidecade battle we are fighting."