White House defends importance of homeland cyber official

A senior White House official on Thursday sought to dispel weeks of industry criticism about the Bush administration's lack of a high-level official dedicated to cybersecurity. But he acknowledged that many questions remain.

"What is clearly important is that [the person overseeing the new center] has the ability to bring resources together," said Paul Kurtz, special assistant to the president and senior director for critical infrastructure protection.

The person in charge of it will be a "sort of director," but will not be considered the federal government's sole person in charge of cyber security. For instance, Mark Forman of the Office of Management and Budget will continue to be responsible for information security at federal agencies, he said.

Nevertheless, the center is "going to be focusing and maximizing resources in one place," Kurtz said. He said the center should be announced in the next few weeks, after organizational issues are resolved. Kurtz made the remarks in a brief interview after speaking on a panel at a McGraw-Hill homeland security conference.

In his panel presentation, Kurtz said "cybersecurity has no lead agency outside the Department of Homeland Security," which is why it is so important to set up the cyber center. The center will draw together existing cybersecurity resources, many of which were moved into the new department.

He stressed that cybersecurity should be made a high priority as it underlies all other infrastructure. "Cybersecurity needs a good deal of attention," Kurtz said.

Kurtz also said Homeland Security is "not solely responsible" for critical infrastructure protection. Other agencies take the lead with their constituents, such as Treasury with banks. He also mentioned the Transportation and Defense departments.

Kurtz leads the critical infrastructure protection directorate under the Homeland Security Council, which functions like the National Security Council, working "across the seams with agencies to bring folks together to work on common problems."

Key priorities of his office are to "enable the Department of Homeland Security to succeed," work on initiatives in the national strategies for physical assets and cyberspace. His office also works with the private sector, helping to boost the industry advisory committees. And it works on communications links between states and localities.

Kurtz said the government should establish the "metrics for success in the cyber sphere." With the creation of the new department, there is a "far better chance to establish those metrics."

Peter Verga, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for homeland defense, described his office's responsibility.

There are limits on military operation on U.S. soil, he said. "We don't want to be the national police force of the United States," Verga said. "You don't want us to be the police force of the United States."

The military can only take the lead in the United States in the extraordinary instance of combat within the territory. When an incident occurs, it is up the president to decide who has the lead, either Homeland Security or Defense. "It can't be both," Verga said.