[infowar.de] Threats To Cyber Security Addressed In FY04 Budget Increase

[Ralf Bendrath <bendrath -! - zedat - fu-berlin - de>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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National Journal 14.3.2003

TECHNOLOGY 

Threats To Cyber Security Addressed In FY04 Budget Increase 

By Bara Vaida

With the nation's economy fully dependent on computer systems, President
Bush in his FY04 budget proposal called for spending $4.7 billion on
boosting the nation's cyber security, up from his proposal of $4.2
billion in FY03 and $2.7 billion in FY02.

Much of the funding would go to agencies to help them improve the
security of their networks. The administration has set a goal that 80
percent of all federal systems be certified according to government
standards for security by the end of the year.

Another portion of the money would go to the Homeland Security
Department, which is absorbing several agencies specifically focused on
cyber security, including the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection
Center and the Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance
Office.

"We need major new investments in cyber security and this ... is
probably an area that ... the new leadership under [Homeland Security
Secretary Ridge] will choose to invest in even more," OMB Director
Daniels said at a press briefing on the FY04 budget earlier this year.
"I wouldn't be surprised. It may be a greater relative threat than some
of the things that we are investing so heavily in right now." 

About $825 million in funding would be allocated to the Homeland
Security Office of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection,
which would house NIPC, CIAO and a new analysis team to sift through
potential terrorist data. Of those funds, $500 million would be
earmarked to assess the nation's critical infrastructures --
such as telecommunications networks and nuclear power plants -- and
address high-priority vulnerabilities.

The department's Science and Technology Research Office is expected to
receive about $802 million, including $350 million for the Homeland
Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research arm modeled after
the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Homeland Security's budget also calls for $206 million in
department-wide technology investments, including $143 million to
modernize business processes and improve information sharing through the
development and acquisition of new equipment, software and services.
Those investments also would include $63 million for wireless
initiatives, such as converting security agencies to narrowband
communications and operating land mobile radio systems. 

Overall, the president proposed spending $59 billion on technology
projects within the government, up from $53 billion in the FY03 request.

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