WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I. and co-chair of the House Cyber Security Caucus, said last week that President Barack Obama is doing the right thing by making cyber security an early focus of his administration.
“I must commend the president for making this 60-day cyber review a priority in his young administration,” Langevin, who last year co-chaired the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency, said in a statement. “This quick action should serve as a clear indication to both the public and private sector of how serious this issue has become for our nation.”
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Obama said last Friday that he would appoint an adviser tasked with ensuring the security of the nation’s government and business computer networks, fulfilling a promise he made in his presidential campaign. The announcement followed a 60-day White House review of national cyber security policy by the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.
The nation’s communications network is “the backbone that underpins a prosperous economy and a strong military,” Obama said at the White House, according to Bloomberg News. “Cyberspace is real and so are the risks that come with it.”
Melissa Hathaway, the White House’s acting director for cyber security and the report’s author, said cyber attacks were coming from foreign governments, criminals and terrorists. Obama noted that his own presidential campaign’s computer system had been hacked last year. Cyber attacks represent “one of the most serious economic and national security threats we face as a nation,” the president said.
Obama also said his administration would create a “comprehensive” approach to computer security. “To date there really has not been a centralized point of coordination for cyber security,” Liesyl Franz, vice president of information security and global public policy at the trade group TechAmerica, told Bloomberg.
Langevin said the administration was off to a solid start on cyber policy.
“This White House report is a good starting point for the work that lies ahead and incorporates many of the CSIS recommendations, including increased coordination between the private and public sectors and within various government agencies,” he said. “I am especially pleased to hear President Obama refer to our cyber infrastructure as a ‘Strategic National Asset’ and a top national security priority.”
“Over the coming months, I look forward to working with the new Cyber Coordinator to fine tune its more general recommendations and make sure we are putting this report into action,” Langevin added.
