Vowing to ensure the safety of U.S. computer networks, President Clinton unveiled the nation's first comprehensive anti-cyberterrorism plan and announced he would ask Congress for $2.05 billion in next year's budget to fund the initiative.
Clinton will ask Congress for a 17 percent increase in federal infrastructure protection spending in fiscal 2001, up from $1.7 billion in fiscal 2000. A large portion of the money would fund the Pentagon's computer security programs. The remainder would be spread across agencies and used to create an education fund to promote computer security training to students, as well as augment research and development funding for computer security.
"Thanks to the hard work of many people, our computer systems were ready for Y2K. But that experience did underscore how really interconnected we all are," Clinton said. "Today, our critical systems-from power structures to air traffic control-are connected and run by computers. We must make those systems more secure so that America can be more secure."
The plan, called "Version 1.0" to emphasize the administration's openness to comments from the private sector and Congress, is divided into two core parts, one for protecting the federal government's infrastructure and another for helping the private sector.
Under the federal plan, the administration seeks $25 million to recruit, train and retain federal IT experts. White House antiterrorism expert Richard Clarke said it is difficult for the government to find IT managers due to lower salaries than found in the private sector. The plan also calls for the creation of a "GI"-type scholarship, where students get computer security training in exchange for working for the government.
Further, the plan would boost federal research and development spending to $621 million on computer security.
Most controversial is the creation of a Federal Intrusion Detection Network (FIDNet) to be run by the General Services Administration.
Clarke called FIDNet, a "burglar alarm" for federal computer networks. Clarke said privacy experts would be consulted during the network's creation to help assuage any concerns.
The private sector, which owns 95 percent of the nation's networks, is being aided by an alliance of 90 Fortune 500 companies, called the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security, to determine ways to communicate security issues. In addition, the government is helping create Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) for private companies to share information with one another.
Clinton also seeks $50 million to create an Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection, which will be a "funding mechanism" to help the private sector find weaknesses in their computer networks. Lastly, the administration plans to staff a National Infrastructure Assurance Council, to be staffed by IT experts from the private sector and academia.
Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, was cautiously supportive of the administration's plan.
"At first glance, the plan seems to underline and highlight critical concerns which need to be addressed in order to combat cyberterrorism," Thompson said. "However, proposals dealing with training security personnel, research and development funding, and the Federal Intrusion Detection network will need to be studied further to determine if these are the appropriate solutions."
Thompson and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., are co-sponsoring a bill (S. 1993) to improve federal computer security.
NEXT STORY: How to be a great SESer in four simple steps