From: OpenSecretsblog
By Janie Boschma
Your morning dose of what’s trending in money-and-politics:
CYBER SPENDING:
The Pentagon plans to expand its cybersecurity efforts even as sequestration threats loom and the Department of Defense eyes cuts in other parts of its budget.
The cybersecurity program expansion includes three parts: “national mission forces” to protect national infrastructure, “combat mission forces” to launch attacks on cyber adversaries, and “cyber protection services” to protect the Pentagon’s computer systems, according to the New York Times.
The move is led by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who warns of the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” and increasing threats of attacks to U.S. networks and computers — which could target American power grids, transportation systems, financial networks and government agencies.
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman is growing more interested in cybersecurity, as we reported last week, but so are many other defense and technology groups. Nearly everyone who is anyone in the world of influence had something to say about cybersecurity in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to lobbying reports filed with Congress last week. The list is long, but Boeing, Caterpillar, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, HP, Lockheed Martin, Google and even Wal-mart wanted their voices heard on the issue — or in some cases a piece of that growing cybersecurity pie.
AOL and Verizon have mentioned cybersecurity more than 100 times each in disclosure reports since 2006, according to Center for Responsive Politics research. Various other tech groups follow close behind, including Oracle and Gemalto, a digital security company headquartered in the Netherlands. Verizon spent $15.15 million on lobbying last year; Oracle, $5.55 million; AOL, $295,720; and Gemalto spent $160,000.
Leave a Reply