[Infowarrior] - Panetta Compares Cyber Threat To Pearl Harbor

[Richard Forno]

Another reference by a policymaker invoking the sensational cyber attack = Pearl Harbor analogy. 
*headsmash*


http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-panetta-visit-offutt-air-base-nebraska-080511/

August 6, 2011

Panetta Compares Cyber Threat To Pearl Harbor

By Margery A. Beck, Associated Press

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. — The United States must remain diligent in
protecting itself from terror threats, including possible cyber attacks,
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Friday at a military base near Omaha.

"We could face a cyber attack that could be the equivalent of Pearl Harbor,"
he said to about 100 military personnel stationed at Offutt Air Force Base.

Such an attack, Panetta said, could "take down our power grid system, take
down our financial systems in this country, take down our government
systems, take down our banking systems."

"They could virtually paralyze this country," he said. "We have to be
prepared to deal with that."

Panetta followed the warning by reiterating one he issued a day earlier:
Cutting too deeply into America's defense budget could damage the country's
security.

His remarks came in the wake of the compromise debt deal struck in
Washington earlier this week that will slice $350 billion from projected
military spending over the next 10 years. Panetta, who was White House
budget chief in the Clinton administration, said he has no qualms about
those cuts, noting the Pentagon has to "do its part" in helping meet deficit
reductions.

But the defense secretary does have a problem with the potential for up to
$500 billion more in defense cuts.

As part of the debt deal, a 12-member, House-Senate committee must propose
up to $1.5 trillion more in cuts over a decade and do so by Nov. 23. If the
committee deadlocks or if Congress rejects its recommendations, the Obama
administration would be required to impose automatic, across-the-board
spending cuts of up to $1.2 trillion, with half coming from defense.

"The last thing we need to do is to hollow out our force," Panetta told the
military gathering in Nebraska. "The last thing we need to do is weaken the
United States of America at a very important time in our history. Listen,
people are questioning the political leadership. People are questioning the
economic situation. The last thing people should question is the ability of
the United States to defend itself."

Those attending Panetta's address Friday were part of U.S. Strategic
Command, the 55th Wing and the Air Force Weather Agency.

It was Panetta's first visit to the Air Force base. He was sworn in as
defense secretary on July 1.

Nebraska's U.S. Sens. Ben Nelson, a Democrat, and Mike Johanns, a
Republican, also attended the defense secretary's address, as did GOP Rep.
Lee Terry of Nebraska.

Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced Panetta
and told those attending that the defense secretary had assured him that
plans for a new U.S. Strategic Command headquarters at Offutt have not
changed.

"While bringing down the debt remains priority No. 1, we won't shortchange
essential projects, such as replacement of the aging and outdated StratCom
headquarters," Nelson said.