The United
States has a great opportunity to start something that will transform national
security – a consolidated cyber security effort. The concept of cyber security is not new as
problem, however the solution is only now forming its bureaucratic boundaries. The government should – really must act before
those boundaries solidify and become nearly impossible to breach (think
Director of National Security). Although
the governments’ intelligence effort has made some progress under the DNI, it
is certainly slow, painful, fraught with angst, bureaucratic inertia and has
left few broken rice bowls in its wake.
In his
State of the Union, the President mentioned that several nations are not
waiting to improve their economies; they are also not waiting until we have
better cyber defenses. The Chinese are
certainly not waiting and their cyber effort is likely not a decentralized
one. We must consolidate cyber security,
it is imperative that resources be utilized by just one agency, that expertise
is resident in that agency and that it is a military-civilian, law enforcement
and intelligence effort. Professional
computer experts (including hackers) side by side with the experts to help
guide their cyberspace efforts – intelligence, military and law enforcement
professionals.
DOD will be
the loudest voice against such an effort, history proves they like stand-alone
capability. It is not the time for
posturing or making an argument for going it alone. DOD can make a great argument for the needs of
combatant commanders, and the like, but there is an overarching need to
coordinate the nation’s cyber security.
Every agency has such needs and properly organized, a National Cyber
Security Agency can care for those needs.
This change
can only come from the top and the appointment of a cyber czar is not the way
to go, it is simply recognition of the problem.
Recent news shows the need for the ability to glide easily around cyber
space to find all manner of illegal and threatening events. The recent example of North Korean arms
shipments is germane here. Cyber
security must be proactive to have the desired effect, not reactive. It is time to get ahead of the bad guys. It is time to have a national and not an
agency capability.
North
Korean Arms Shipment
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584437,00.html
Navy Cyber
Command Stand Up
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_fleet_cyber_command_013010/
Cyber Czar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR2009052502104.html
Chinese
Cyber Warfare
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28907/
Note: The Epoch Times is a publication of the
anti-PRC group Falun Gong. It maintains a considerable bias in some reporting,
and there are accusations of occasional exaggeration or fabrication. This article however, has a reliable source
as its base and is therefore used here.
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