Homeland Security unveils new cybersecurity division, seeks chief

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

June 6, 2003 

Homeland Security unveils new cybersecurity division, seeks chief

By Bara Vaida, <http://www.nationaljournal.com/technologydaily>National
Journal's Technology Daily

The Homeland Security Department on Friday officially unveiled its
cybersecurity division to focus on securing the nation's computer networks,
but the unit still lacks a chief.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert
Liscouski called the new division "the feet" to implement the
administration's <http://www.whitehouse.gov/pcipb>strategy to secure
cyberspace and said his goal is to name a director within the next 30 days.

"I want a private-sector person who can be a visionary," Liscouski said at a
news briefing. "We will kick off an aggressive search to find a director."

The question of who will oversee cybersecurity within the Bush
administration has been an open issue since March 1, when the White House
dissolved its Office of Cyberspace Security as part of the process of
creating Homeland Security. Several high-ranking cybersecurity officials
declined to take jobs in the new department, spurring speculation that the
administration was not going to put the new cybersecurity adviser in a
senior position. 

"I think what you saw was confusion about where the new division was going
to be placed in the department," Liscouski said. "If this organization were
anywhere else [but here], then it would be dysfunctional. ... This is a peer
office ... and the secretary [Tom Ridge] has a laser-beam focus on cyber
security." He added that Ridge knows the importance of technology to the
business community.

Liscouski outlined the office's goals, which include prevention, protection
and mitigation of cyber attacks. He emphasized that cyber security is a key
part of physical security, part of the department's overall mission. As part
of the effort of prevention and protection, the division will oversee a
Cybersecurity Tracking, Analysis and Response Center (CSTARC), which will
serve as a central point for detecting, coordinating and responding to cyber
attacks. 

Liscouski emphasized that the cyber division would not regulate but would
"act as a bully pulpit" for creating a culture of cybersecurity.

He noted that department officials are discussing ideas, such as creating
cyber-security standards, providing cybersecurity insurance or requiring
companies to publicly state their cybersecurity efforts in their financial
statements. "But these ideas are in a discussion stage" and nowhere near a
policymaking stage, he said.

Liscouski said his division works so closely with Paul Redmond, assistant
secretary for information analysis, that the line between the two divisions
is "blurry." Redmond is also working with the Terrorist Threat Integration
Center (TTIC), which is to be the center point for that nation's
intelligence gathering.

TTIC, which is being housed within the CIA, is to have a "cyber capability,"
Liscouski said, and is to help them his department with mapping cyber
vulnerabilities. He said the new cyber-security division at Homeland
Security would not have investigative abilities, as that remains the FBI's
primary responsibility to follow up on cyber crimes.

The Business Software Alliance, Entrust, Information Technology Association
of America and the security firm VeriSign all expressed public support for
the new division. 



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