Texas Insider Report: Washington D.C. Cyber is a new domain of vandalism crime espionage & warfare but we are not very well equipped to deal with any of those challenges. As we look for solutions we want to be smart careful & true to our values but we need to act to improve our security" said Cong. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) the Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities following a hearing on the Department of Defenses role in the nations cyber activities.
One of the first things that one notices is that the name of the subcommittee has changed this year to better match what our charge is. We are to look out into the future and help see that the United States is prepared to deal with those national security challenges that are still emerging those that we are still learning about such as terrorism and cyber warfare.
We are also charged with nurturing emerging capabilities that can meet those and other threats. The jurisdiction has been clarified so that we can better focus on cyber and other issues.
Any emerging threat presents new challenges on policy legal authority budgeting as we have witnessed for example since 9/11. Today we want to start by asking a fairly basic but important question: What is role of the Department of Defense in defending the country in cyberspace?
If a formation of planes or hostile-acting ships came barreling toward a factory or refinery in the U.S. we know pretty well what we expect the military to do. They may try to identify who they are and what they intend. They may try to divert them or shoot them down but the bottom line is that we expect our military to protect us from threats we cannot handle on our own.
But what do we expector should we expectif a bunch of malicious or potentially malicious packets come barreling toward that same factory or facility in cyber space? And then the question will be whether the Department of Defense or the federal government is able and is authorized to do what we expect.
We do not expect definitive answers that everyone will agree with today but we need to be serious and diligent about pursuing answers because the threat is seriousit is growing in numbers and in sophistication and our vulnerability is growing because our dependence on cyber is growing in just about every aspect of our lives.
Yesterday at an Intelligence Committee hearing I asked DNI Clapper FBI Director Mueller and CIA Director Panetta how serious a threat was posed to our countrys security in cyberspace. Each of them said it was very serious. In fact Clapper testified that The threat is increasing in scope and scale and its impact is difficult to overstate" said Thornberry.
Texas Insider Report: Washington D.C. Cyber is a new domain of vandalism crime espionage & warfare but we are not very well equipped to deal with any of those challenges. As we look for solutions we want to be smart careful & true to our values but we need to act to improve our security" said Cong. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) the Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities following a hearing on the Department of Defenses role in the nations cyber activities.
One of the first things that one notices is that the name of the subcommittee has changed this year to better match what our charge is. We are to look out into the future and help see that the United States is prepared to deal with those national security challenges that are still emerging those that we are still learning about such as terrorism and cyber warfare.
We are also charged with nurturing emerging capabilities that can meet those and other threats. The jurisdiction has been clarified so that we can better focus on cyber and other issues.
Any emerging threat presents new challenges on policy legal authority budgeting as we have witnessed for example since 9/11. Today we want to start by asking a fairly basic but important question: What is role of the Department of Defense in defending the country in cyberspace?
If a formation of planes or hostile-acting ships came barreling toward a factory or refinery in the U.S. we know pretty well what we expect the military to do. They may try to identify who they are and what they intend. They may try to divert them or shoot them down but the bottom line is that we expect our military to protect us from threats we cannot handle on our own.
But what do we expector should we expectif a bunch of malicious or potentially malicious packets come barreling toward that same factory or facility in cyber space? And then the question will be whether the Department of Defense or the federal government is able and is authorized to do what we expect.
We do not expect definitive answers that everyone will agree with today but we need to be serious and diligent about pursuing answers because the threat is seriousit is growing in numbers and in sophistication and our vulnerability is growing because our dependence on cyber is growing in just about every aspect of our lives.
Yesterday at an Intelligence Committee hearing I asked DNI Clapper FBI Director Mueller and CIA Director Panetta how serious a threat was posed to our countrys security in cyberspace. Each of them said it was very serious. In fact Clapper testified that The threat is increasing in scope and scale and its impact is difficult to overstate" said Thornberry.
