Cybersecurity A Top Homeland Security Priority
According to a new report from United Press International, one of the first issues to be faced by the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "will be how to deal with the question of cybersecurity."

As the article discusses, given that "so much of the nation's commerce and vital infrastructure" is dependent on the Internet, DHS and intelligence officials are deeply concerned "that cyber networks represent a backdoor through which terrorists and other enemies can attack the United States." Federal concern is heightened by the fact that many of the utilities and other industries that are part of the nation's critical infrastructure "are controlled through or operate in such cyber networks."

This column has recently discussed statements from retired CIA Director George Tenet explaining that the internet "represents a potential Achilles' heel for our financial stability and physical security if the networks we are creating are not protected."

The UPI article states that DHS critics claim that the cybersecurity "issue has not been prioritized sufficiently..." Currently, DHS treats "cybersecurity as a subset of infrastructure protection -- guarding the nation's vital organs and arteries against attack from terrorists and others."

Members of Congress and some industry officials, according to the press account, "have long believed that the issue needs more visibility and a more senior official to drive government policy..." Legislation is pending to create within DHS the post of an Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity.

However, as is often the case in Washington, government problems may best be resolved not through the creation of new bureaucracies but through the application of solutions that are already being developed or in-use by the private sector.

Before creating new boxes on the already complex DHS org chart, federal officials should address cybersecurity concerns by identifying: 1) specific unmet federal cybersecuity needs; and 2) products, technologies, standards and practices that are already being used or are in development by the private sector to determine how these private sector solutions can contribute to federal cybersecurity goals.