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Feds Prepare to Release Cybersecurity Plan

Government's strategy will encourage communication and coordination, presidential adviser says.

Cara Garretson, IDG News Service

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WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush's plan for protecting the nation's electronic networks from terrorist attacks will be released September 19, according to a top presidential adviser.

The plan will detail how critical infrastructures in the United States, such as financial trading networks and power grids, will be secured from cyberattack, said Richard Clarke, special adviser to the president for cyberspace security, who spoke at the Congressional Internet Caucus' meeting with European Parliament members here Wednesday. The plan is part of Bush's larger national security vision that he outlined Tuesday.

"It was written largely by people outside of the government," Clarke said of the plan, so that the administration could leverage the expertise of private companies that run these networks. "They have all written their chapters."

Working Together

Instead of attempting to regulate how the private sector should protect networks from potential attacks, the Bush administration believes that the government should play the role of facilitator.

"The role of the federal government should be to remove barriers" and to give companies the tools to facilitate cooperation between them and the government, Clarke said.

Because the nation has come to rely so heavily on the Internet and other electronic networks, preparing to defend them against hackers and terrorists has become paramount, Clarke said.

"There will probably be a series of major cyberattacks in the 21st century," the adviser said. "It would be nice this time to be prepared."

Lessons Learned

The nation must learn from the terrorist attacks of September 11 not to assume that just because an assault of a certain size or magnitude hasn't happened in the past it won't happen in the future, Clarke said. "We have to realize we do have vulnerabilities and deal with them now. That's why President Bush wants a national plan."

International coordination is also required to protect networks from intruders, since the Internet is a global network, Clarke added.

"We cannot secure the global Internet unless we work together," he said. Specifically, the Bush administration will call upon other countries to make available national cybersecurity contacts, Clarke said.

Such coordinated preparation can only help other nations, he said. "Every country that runs a sophisticated economy today is increasingly reliant on networked systems," Clarke said.

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