In the tradition of federalization of the auto industry. And in keeping with promises made in the 2008 campaign. The Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are proposing to increase cybersecurity by federalizing networks. The legislation, co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D.”The Internet Should Never Have Existed” Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), was drafted with White House input.
The Rockefeller-Snowe measure would create the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, the White House cybersecurity “czar.” The czar would report directly to the president and would coordinate defense efforts across government agencies. The proposed bills go beyond securing government networks and puts the White House in charge of the security of private networks with the authority to shut them down. Under the guise of “critical infrastructure”, the Feds are going to nationalize banking, utilities, air/rail/auto traffic control, and telecommunications networks.
The new rules are proposed in two senate bills, S.773 the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, and S.778. S.778 is a bill to establish, within the Executive Office of the President, the Office of National Cybersecurity Advisor. S.773 is “A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.”
It would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish “measurable and auditable cybersecurity standards” that would apply to private companies as well as the government. It also would require licensing and certification of cybersecurity professionals.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged there will be privacy concerns about centralizing cybersecurity, and he told the Washington Post that the program should be designed in a way that gives Americans confidence that it is “not being used to gather private information.”
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How does the Obama Cyber Czar plan to ensure the continued free flow of commerce when they take the Telco networks off-line. In case they haven’t noticed, the telcos provide most of the long-haul interconnect for the Internet. If the Obama Cyber Czar decides to take the banks offline, there are going to be bigger problems. Can you say bank run? I will pull my cash out at the local branch.
Finally, this is a bad policy, because the Security Czar is a political appointment and network security is too important to be left to politics unless of course, it is in the corporate boardroom.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.