Cyber-security Panel Seeks Overhaul of Fed Direction
Date: September 18, 2008Source: eWEEK.com
The Department of Homeland Security—the lead federal agency charged with protecting U.S. computer networks—has fundamentally failed in its mission and should be relieved of its cyber-security responsibilities, a blue ribbon panel told Congress Sept. 16.
James A. Lewis of the Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency and director and senior fellow at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) told lawmakers that responsibility for cyber-security should be shifted back to the White House. Before Congress created DHS in 2003 by merging 22 federal agencies, responsibility for cyber-security rested with the White House.
"Oversight of cyber-security must move elsewhere. The conclusion we've reached is that only the White House has the authority to be effective," Lewis told the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology. "It did not take long for our group to conclude that our national efforts in cyberspace are disorganized."
"Given DHS' weaknesses, we considered a number of alternatives," Lewis said. "The intelligence community has the necessary capabilities but giving it a lead role poses serious constitutional problems. DOD [Department of Defense] is well suited to handle a national mission, but giving it the lead suggests a militarization of cyber-space. We concluded that only the White House has the necessary authority and oversight for cyber-security."
DHS, which was not invited to testify at the hearing, took immediate exception to the idea.
"Rearranging the deck chairs is a classic inside-the-beltway pastime, but all that it ensures are more headlines for political posturing and a guarantee that in two years government's cyber-efforts will be in the same place," Laura Keehner, a DHS spokesperson, said in a statement. "Rather than playing shell games, we're getting meaningful work done. To be fair, we are undertaking something not unlike the Manhattan Project. We have set a strong cyber-strategy, recently created the National Cyber Security Center and are in the process of aggressively hiring several hundred analysts to further our mission of securing critical infrastructure."
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., called the Bush administration's cyber-security efforts since 2003 a "disaster," particularly after former White House cyber-security advisor Richard Clarke was given the boot.
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