Failure to Appoint Leader Leaves Weak Links In Global Cybersecurity Efforts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Today, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, blasted the Department of Homeland Security for failing to make cybersecurity a priority.
“One year ago, Secretary Chertoff announced the creation of an Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security to lead the nation’s efforts in securing and defending cyberspace and its related assets. But it’s apparent that the Department is moving at dial-up speed in hardening this infrastructure to respond to cyber attacks. It is hard to take the Department’s promises seriously, when, one year later, they still haven’t appointed a qualified individual to fill the position of Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Telecommunications and have outsourced critical cyber positions within the Department. It boggles the mind that this Administration has not had a top-level cyberczar leading our nation’s efforts since 2003,” said Rep. Thompson.
In the last year alone, a number of government organizations including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Veterans Administration, and the National Nuclear Security Administration, have had their data systems breached and sensitive information lost at incalculable cost to the nation’s security and the public’s trust.
The Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Telecommunications is tasked with leading government efforts to assess vulnerabilities in our nation’s technology infrastructure, provide and monitor threat information, and coordinate the federal response to attacks.
A related statement from the Cyber Security Industry Alliance can be accessed here.
For More Information:
Please contact Dena Graziano or Todd Levett at (202) 226-2616
