[Infowarrior] - Senate presses DHS on secret cybersecurity plan

[Richard Forno]

What's Up with the Secret Cybersecurity Plans, Senators Ask DHS
By Ryan Singel EmailMay 02, 2008 |

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/senate-panel-qu.html

The government's new cyber-security "Manhattan Project" is so secretive that
a key Senate oversight panel has been reduced to writing a letter to beg for
answers to the most basic questions, such as what's going on, what's the
point and what about privacy laws.

The Senate Homeland Security committee wants to know, for example, what is
the goal of Homeland Security's new National Cyber Security Center. They
also want to know why it is that in March, DHS announced that Silicon Valley
evangelist and security novice Rod Beckstrom would direct the center, when
up to that point DHS said the mere existence of the center was classified.

Those are just two sub-questions out of a list of 17 multi-part questions
centrist Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine)
sent to DHS in a letter Friday.

In fact, although the two say they asked for a briefing five months ago on
what the center does, DHS has yet to explain its latest acronym.

The panel, noted it was pleased with the new focus on cyber security, but
questioned Homeland Security's request to triple the center's cyber-security
budget to about $200 million.

They cited concerns about the secrecy around the project, its reliance on
contractors for the operation of the center and lack of dialogue with
private companies that specialize in internet security.

That center is just one small part of the government's new found interest in
computer security, a project dubbed the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity
Initiative, which has been rumored to eventually get some $30 billion in
funding.

Little is known about the initiative since it was created via a secret
presidential order in January, though the Washington Post reports that
portions of it may be made public soon.

    We are also concerned that the lack of information about the CNCI being
provided to the public, other agencies, and private entities that conduct
business with the government might be creating confusion and concern about
the initiative. Given the broad nature and goals of this initiative,
agencies may be less likely to plan for their future information technology
needs, fearing that systems they purchase might not comply with the
initiative. Similarly, industry will be less likely to do business with the
government given the uncertainty about future technical requirements.
Additionally, the public, of course, must be reassured that efforts to
secure cyber networks will be appropriately balanced with respect for
privacy and civil liberties.

Why might citizens be worried about privacy and civil liberties? Consider
that the whole initiative appears to have been launched after the Director
of National Intelligence told the President Bush that a cyber attack might
wreak as much economic havoc as 9/11 did.

Consider that the NSA, which currently protects classified networks, wants
to expand into protecting all non-classified federal government networks.
Consider that Congress is set to legalize the NSA's monitoring rooms in the
nation's phone and internet infrastructure.

For its part, the FBI says it also needs access to the internet's backbone,
while the Air Force is hyping its own efforts at cyber defense and offense.
Meanwhile, THREAT LEVEL's sister blog Danger Room reports that DARPA is
getting in on the hot cyber-action, with a project to make a fake internet
to develop new cyber attacks and defenses.

It's been said many times that if the government knew what the internet was
going to become when it grew up, they would had never let it out of the lab.

Now it seems the only question is whether the government will be able to
turn the net into a controllable, monitorable and trackable pre-internet
AOL-type service or whether the chaotic net will live on as just another
frontier for the military-industrial complex to start an arm's race and rake
in billions of government dollars.