Former FBI Chief Notes Cyber Turf Wars
The U.S. government has a range of praiseworthy cybersecurity efforts but many of them continue to suffer from a lack of coordination and funding, Former FBI Director Louis Freeh told the FOSE information technology summit on Thursday. He said turf wars over safeguarding government networks are the 21st century manifestation of a centuries-old dilemma. "It is still same debate that we were having 200 years ago: Is the military going to be responsible for this war or do we need to stand up an independent civilian facility?" That debate is not easily resolved and the problem is "too large and too complicated to relegate into the typical bureaucratic pigeonhole," he said.
His comments echoed those made by witnesses at a House Homeland Security Emerging Threats Subcommittee hearing earlier this week that was intended to inform the Obama administration's 60-day examination of federal cyber efforts. Part of the answer is breaking down silos at the National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies that have a cybersecurity role, Freeh said. "There have got to be centers of expertise that can interface in efficient and practical ways," he said. "There has to be strong, essential executive leadership that lends its genius and persuasion to building types of structures and inter-relationships where information can be shared, expertise can be borrowed and common objectives... can be achieved."
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