Under lobbying, high-tech panel alters recommendations

  • Congress Daily
  • September 17, 2002
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Under intense lobbying by industry groups, a White House panel studying ways to protect America's high-tech backbone has dropped several security ideas and turned others into topics for discussion rather than government mandates, according to the latest version of the plan circulated Monday.

The ideas dropped include requiring companies to pay into a fund to improve national computer security and restricting use of emerging wireless networks until their security is approved, according to the draft obtained by the Associated Press.

"We're just identifying the stuff we already know to be a problem, and saying it's a problem," said Russ Cooper, of network security firm TruSecure Corp., who was briefed on the plan. "I thought there was going to be some meat, and there's not."

The cybersecurity panel headed by President Bush's computer security adviser, Richard Clarke, is expected to release its recommendations Wednesday.

Once called the "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," the draft circulated Monday added the words, "For Comment" to the title.

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