FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 23, 2002

SCHUMER, CLINTON SECURE NEARLY $5.5 MILLION FOR ROME AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY

Senate Appropriations Committee approved $5.5 million to develop security systems and technology at Rome Air Force Research Laboratory

Senators say new technology will help prevent cyber-terrorist attacks on US military and government information systems

US Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $5.5 million for the Rome Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop technologies that will guard against cyber-attacks on US military and government information systems. The funding, which Schumer and Clinton requested, was included in the Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations bill.

"There's no question that the threat of cyber-terrorism is real and growing day by day," Schumer said. "In our wildest dreams we never thought September 11th would happen. It was a wake-up call that showed that we're not invincible and that we need to stay ahead of the curve. We need to bolster the security of our information systems, and Rome Labs is at the forefront of this effort."

"Cyberterrorism is terrorism, and can be as devastating and deadly to America as more conventional terrorist attacks. Our nation's hospitals, 911 systems, and power grids are all dependent on computers. Achieving homeland security means that we must protect these vital computer and information systems from intrusions and disruptions as much as we protect our airports, our bridges, and our buildings. The cutting edge research being conducted at Rome is vital our protection," Clinton said.

Specifically, the technology developed with this funding will explore new methods to detect terrorist groups when they transmit information through digital documents including, images, files and simple text. This new technology will help detect embedded information. The funding will also allow the government to develop new methods to detect tampering in government and military systems and to test global positioning system receivers and other electronic warfare devices.

The AFRL Rome Research Site, in cooperation with Binghamton University and industry partners, began developing ways to secure critical national security information in 1997. This partnership has brought about new developments in areas including tamper detection, tamper proofing and image authentication and has already resulted in a number of breakthrough patents.

The DOD Appropriations bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration and is expected to reach the conference committee in September. The Senators expect this funding for AFRL to be included in the final version of the bill.

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