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New Bill Could Shift Federal Cybersecurity Work From DHS To White House
CNet reports on legislation currently being drafted that would transfer federal cybersecurity responsibilities away from the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, they would fall under the authority of the Executive Office of the President, creating an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor. A tech commission recommended relieving the DHS of cybersecurity responsibilities late last year, saying it simply wasn't prepared to deal with organized online threats. More recently, the director of the DHS's National Cybersecurity Center resigned, citing interference from the NSA. The new legislation would "put the White House National Cybersecurity Advisor in charge of coordinating cyber efforts within the intelligence community and within civilian agencies, as well as coordinating the public sector's cooperation with the private sector. The advisor would have the authority to disconnect from the Internet any federal infrastructure networks — or other networks deemed to be 'critical' — if found to be at risk of a cyberattack. The private sector will certainly speak out if this provision is included in the final draft of the bill, a representative of the technology industry who spoke on condition of anonymity said."
"The adviser would have the authority to disconnect from the Internet any federal infrastructure networks -- or other networks deemed to be 'critical' -- if found to be at risk of a cyberattack."
Great, so instead of the DHS being the only great fear monger, we now are going to create a new office to replicate it? How is DHS not the most logical place for cybersecurity? Intelligence is there, let THEM act on it. No need to increase the size of the government and have some other moron (who probably didnt pay his taxes) waiving his arms around at a puff of smoke...
-1: Obamahater
Warning: Corny karma killing post above.
This whole exercise, and an entire swath of the federal Ministry of Freedom, could be eliminated if 95% of the computer-using population wasn't indoctrinated to use a shoddy, unsafe, and feeble operating system, Windows, which is insecure by design.
Cyber-security my ass. It's just another gear in the machinery of government control now.
"The only good windmill is a tilted windmill."
Antivirus software I can believe in!
It's good to see that the White House thinks cyber security is important enough to move it into the Whitehouse, where they will be closer to the President and better prepared for power struggles. On the other, wasn't DHS supposed to cut through all the bullshit of turf wars to make us secure, or at least more so? If they can't do so, what justifies the new cabinet position and the accompanying increase in government size?
http://bgcommonsense.blogspot.com
"The adviser would have the authority to disconnect from the Internet any federal infrastructure networks -- or other networks deemed to be 'critical' -- if found to be at risk of a cyberattack."
Looks like the entire US government is going offline soon.
If I didn't have absolutely NOTHING to do, I wouldn't be here.
"They've breached the infrastructure firewall! Oh noes!!"
How about we abolish the DHS altogether? What an expensive boondoggle it turned out to be. The worst part is that it got formed because the various intelligence agencies were engaged in turf wars and refusing to share info on possible threats to the US. The solution? Create another monster agency. Sigh.
When all else fails, run.
You know, the framers of the constitution wanted inefficiency to be built into the government, it prevented it from being 'too good' at robbing citizens of our rights before we knew it was happening.
This whole administration is dangerous.
My other firewall is an Obama.
I think the current cyber security guy quit for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the NSA - he also couldn't get much support from his own team in DHS. For those who actually swim in those waters, everyone major three letter government agency has their own 'cyber taskforce'. And they'll be dammned if they're going to share or collaborate any of their work with others - just mention the word 'cyber', and congress will start dumping a ton of funding on you. You start taking that away, and suddenly things get personal - now you're talking cash, and you always want more funding. It's also aggravated by mission creep - suddenly another three letter agency adopts a mission similar to yours, but this is YOUR mission, you're the experts, everyone else can go hang. Most agencies will not bow to another no matter how the executive office structures it, plain and simple. While I think that the executive office taking the lead role is probably a sound move, a part of me wonders if it's just more bureaucratic shuffling that achieves nothing.
I bring nothing to the table.
and I'm all for taking cyber security out of their hands, but giving whatever executive branch *is* in charge of cyber security the ability to disconnect "critical" networks w/o some sort of oversight is just beyond ridiculous.
First, DHS is staffed by total incompetents. I used to work with two of their original top ppl. They were a group that was loyal to W and the neo-cons first, then loyal to the corp, finally, loyal the nation. Total idiots.
Second, NSA was suppose to have this. It is their job to protect our electronic frontier. They were doing a good job of it (QUIETLY), until DHS jumped in. And as to the interference, it was a good thing. DHS was back to trying to push America on one standard.
Finally, I am not convinced that moving this into the white house is a good thing. For our operations to be protected, it is going to require a NONE POLITICAL GROUP. NSA is OVERALL A-political. The white house by definition is political. Even if Obama is moderate (not sure that he is), and tries to be none political, it is certain that everyone around him IS political.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Isn't the DHS within the Executive branch anyway? They do what the President tells them. What difference does it make if it's physically there inside the white house.
I'm a 2000 man.
I'm no constitutional scholar, but I suspect that inefficiency was meant to be applied to Congress, not to the Executive Branch (which DHS, CIA, NSA and other TLAs are part of). The inefficiency was meant to prevent bogus laws from making it on the books. (you can argue that the inefficiency fails at this, but that was its purpose), not to prevent gov't from enforcing the laws it does have.
Practice Kind Randomness and Beautiful Acts of Nonsense.
So now the President gets to make the call on what is/is not a national security matter such that the Internet can be shut down? At least when there was a Department in charge of this there was a chance that bogus administration activity might be caught. Does nobody else here see the potential downside of this?
Folks, you should be getting concerned about this rather than applauding it.
All hail the Great Obama, Defender of State.
I don't know precisely where it is, but with half a million plus job losses every month, and a slew of personal bankruptcies, and an even larger slew of people close to retirement age watching their retirement monies disappearing down the rathole that is wallstreet crook's wallets, and a younger generation staring at a future of either no work or third world level pay in a still first world cost of living "free market global competition" environment, where protectionism exists only for the huge corporations at the top levels, some time in the probably not too distant future these riots will start. Mass protests first, then when that doesn't work, riots. Happened all over the planet before once the serfs and peasants and commoners get pushed too far by the aristocrats, and it'll happen again.
This whole administration is dangerous.
I was not aware that the administration was responsible for Congress' proposed legislation or a commission's report. Let's at least wait until the White House has issued some sort of statement before condemning Obama over this.
You know what other society went down in flames after concentrating all the governmental activities under the Executive?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
DHS is already under the purview of the Whitehouse. The article doesn't discuss if the director of Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor would be subject to congressional confirmation (DHS is), but they could be.
If they are mostly advising the president on what other agencies should be doing (rather than implementing things), the change doesn't hurt anything at all (and not running everything through DHS is probably better).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Hey, guys, we support this. Why all the hate? An unnamed industry representative spoke to CNet and said "leadership is needed at the top" on this issue. He or she further went on to note that "we'll have views" on such an agency if it goes into legislation.
Seriously, what's up with the anonymous coward "industry representative" in TFA? The only reason I can think of to remain anonymous on this issue would be if that person has an ulterior motive he or she would prefer not be visible. It's stupid, he or she is stupid, and Stephanie Condon* is stupid for quoting him or her.
And, for the record, the whole idea is stupid. If DHS can't handle it, why would a new agency be able to? If DHS is that spectacularly incompetent, it needs new leadership, restructuring, or dissolution. If the NSA is obstructing their work, well, that's a damned good reason for Obama to have a cabinet-level advisor to help him referee.
*Yikes; wouldn't wanna go through high school with that name.
Clearly this administration has no regard for the Constitution and the fact that this sort of power-grab is precisely why the branches of government where created the way they were. The fact that this cybersecurity department would report to the executive branch means that it doesn't report to Congress aka The People. Congress could demand transparency all they want and the Office of the President can tell them to go pound sand...once the department is created. Doing things under the guise of FUD and then absolving themselves of any responsibility is the hallmark of this administration. Notice I didn't say Obama. IMHO, he's not savvy enough to pull this stuff off on his own. IMHO, the real power lies behind the throne.
Every four to eight years, we will be replacing all the networking equipment, even the cables, with parts from, coincidentally, the company that donated the most to the President's campaign.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Like the last 8, 16, 32 haven't been? Powerful groups, almost by definition, are dangerous.
so some bad happens. Who do you report it to? Local police?
State police?
Federal police? And if so, do you mean:
FBI?
CIA?
Department of Homeland Security?
National Security Agency?
Peace Corps?
Coast Guard?
National Guard?
We don't need another agency. We need about half of these dissolved / merged so it's understandable who's in charge of what!
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
Personally, I couldn't care less if certain government owned and operated resources are taken off line. However, start messing with the internet at large, and you've got some rather significant problems...many businesses, for example, have grown to rely very heavily on their internet presence - so much so that just a few hours offline could cost them millions. There is simply too much in the private sector that is dependent on the availability of that connection - it's not something you'd want to toy with to show everyone how just much control has been accumulated in all the wrong places.
I don't know if antagonistic agencies is a good idea or a bad idea. On the plus side you have separate agencies looking at each other. In theory, no agency gets too powerful. On the negative side there are gaping holes where the responsibilities of the agencies meet.
History has another example where it arguably did not work so well. Hitler organized the Nazi party and the German government in this way. There was a lot of turf wars in the Third Reich. Hitlers personal security was an example of this. There were many attempts on his life and it was only Hitlers luck that many of them failed. His security forces completely missed many attempts.
Didn't last a generation, of course.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
It sounds like they're recommissioning the Black Chamber.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
I'll believe it when I see it. Dismantling government agency power has most certainly not been Obama's agenda in the scant months he's been President. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
What are the notable things Obama has done in his Presidency so far? He's substantially increased government control of the private sector, ensuring private industry and banking will be beholden to government for a good time to come. He's increased the power and responsibility of various agencies (by unconstitutional fiat) substantially. He's done quite a bit in the direction of not splitting power up into different agencies to prevent an 'ubergovernment' agency/unit.
Also: how is moving cybersecurity directly under the authority of the President anything approaching a move to "split power"? It looks like a move to aggregate and increase power to me - IE, more of the same kind of thing that you say lead to the formation of DHS.
Now, you might be right. But in my assessment of the man, such a move runs contrary not only to his policy, but his very grain. There has been no indication that he prefers anything but centralized, omnipresent control, and I'll be gratefully, if somewhat skeptically, surprised if he moves in any other direction.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
DHS is already under the purview of the Whitehouse. The article doesn't discuss if the director of Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor would be subject to congressional confirmation (DHS is), but they could be.
If they are mostly advising the president on what other agencies should be doing (rather than implementing things), the change doesn't hurt anything at all (and not running everything through DHS is probably better).
All these appointments of any people to a offices and consul positions, reporting directly to the President, must by law be approved by the Congress (typically the Senate). That's right in the Constitution:
I know Obama is not the first to appoint "Czars" and other "advisers" without any congressional involvement, and frankly I don't know how they got away with it in the past. It's clearly unconstitutional.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Read what you quoted:
"but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments."
When Congress establishes a position, they can forgo having to confirm it.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
So when did they establish the "Energy Czar"? How about the "Drug Czar"?
Note also that it says "may by law vest the appointment", meaning that unless a law specifically states that the appointments may be made without their approval, then they have to confirm it.
That's a far cry from what has been happening since the Clinton administration (or was there precedent before that), where the president just decides he needs a new adviser, creates the position out of thin air, and sticks somebody in it.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Czar
Nice that you ragged on Clinton (that link doesn't demonstrate that every person working for the president is doing so with congressional approval, it just demonstrates that you are making an awful lot of assumptions...).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Czar
Nice that you ragged on Clinton (that link doesn't demonstrate that every person working for the president is doing so with congressional approval, it just demonstrates that you are making an awful lot of assumptions...).
Should have known it was Ronald "Just Say No" Reagan that appointed a drug czar, but at least he got congress to approve it. I think I made it obvious that I didn't really know when these non-congress-approved positions started, only that it's illegal and should stop. It looks like it was Nixon that started it.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Do you have a list of positions that you have good reason to believe are not approved by Congress? That's the assumption that I am talking about.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
This whole administration is dangerous.
Yikes! Thats what I thought a lot about the last administration. Those in positions changed. The ones pulling their strings are still in charge.sigh
Do you have a list of positions that you have good reason to believe are not approved by Congress? That's the assumption that I am talking about.
Seems I posted the wrong link. It should have been this one.
It talks about, among others:
None of these people, as far as I can tell, have any authorization from Congress to do anything or even be part of the administration. Yet they act as "consuls" and report directly to the President.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
The water gets muddy (those folks can at least threaten to get El Presidente on the phone, whether they have real power or not), but should Bush II have gotten permission from Congress to talk to his daddy (ostensibly, Bush Sr. gave Jr. advice at least once...)?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Barack Hussein Barry-Soetoro-Afro-Leninist Obama II.
- Chairman Barack Hussein "The Teleprompter" Obama is deeply connected to corruption, Rahm Emanuel (Radical authoritarian Statist-Zionist whose father was part of the Murderous Civilian Killing Israeli Terrorist Organization known as IRGUN), Connected to Rod Blagojevich (Rahm inherited Rod's federal-congress seat), Connected to Ayers, a man who promotes the concept that civilian collateral damage is ok in a war against freedom, Preacher Jeremiah Wright, who is himself a black-elitist who wants all the people who largely "pay the freight" to suffer, 31 million on food stamps, more blacks are in prison and on food-stamps per capita than anyone else. The problem with Wright is simply this: the facts are "racist."
- Obama: Racist, AIPAC-Zionist, Corrupted and a Traitor and a Liar who can't even produce a valid birth certificate (which is not a certificate of live birth)
- Raytheon lobbyist in Pentagon
- Goldman Sachs insider second in command at Treasury.
- Cabinet has had several nominees and appointees with multiple tax fraud issues.
- The head of the IRS and the head of the Treasury, Geithner, is a Tax Cheat
- Lied about no lobbyists
- Lied about having a new degree of accountability and a SUNSHINE period of new laws, he has signed bills with little or no review at whitehouse.gov as promised.
- Appointed a second amendment violating Rich-pardoning treasonist Eric Holder as AG, the top cop of the USA, a man who helped a fugitive evade justice.
- Has not put a dime in for a single new nuclear power plant but wants to help bridges and roads to promote more driving.
- Obama, Blagojevich and Rahm Emanuel have a LOT to hide. They literally lived next to each other, Rahm had (until being Chairman Obama's Chief of staff) Blagojevich's old federal congressional seat. Blagojevich helped Chairman "The Teleprompter" Obama cheat his way to the Illinois senate by getting other candidates thrown off the ballot in Illinois. Why do you think Blagojevich was so mad? Obama DID owe him, big time. Rahm and Obama are using Blagojevich and trying to cut his head off to keep him away.
- Tony Rezko, Iraqi Arms Dealer Nahdmi Auchi, and of course Aiham Alsammarae. Chairman "The Teleprompter" Hussein Obama is so corrupted its a joke.
- Fools and "useful idiots" twist the pie charts by leaving welfare, workfare, interest on debt, social security, Medicare and Medicaid out and focusing only on non-whole "discretionary" pie charts.
2007 high level pie chart, Federal Budget, USA
2009 Pie chart, detailed, Federal Budget, USA
- Chairman Obama is drastically increasing spending and creating more entitlements that will make the US less competitive (especially against China, India, East Europe/Russia). This will be a huge disaster and change you can believe in will strap you and your grandkids with more debt. No taxation without representation? Obama is spending money for the next two-three generations and they can't even vote yet, or even have been born.
- An alternative to the dollar and a forex and a reserve currency came up at the last G20 meeting. The world will not take faith in Obama's liar-socialist spending and welfare state, why should the taxpayers (plebian citizen-slaves of a police state).
- The spending going on now vastly eclipses all previous spending. In fact, the massive trillion plus debts is a thing of the 80's onwards. Congress signs the checks, remember that Year after year, as egregious as the pentagon spending is, that the social spending is completely a waste of money and it is unfunded over the long term. Eisenhower built the interstates, the US could build a new power infrastructure with this money but instead is being pissed into creating more of an entitlement system that is STILL unfunded, and without massive poll-taxes and far
Barack Hussein Barry-Soetoro-Afro-Leninist Obama II. , hell bent on bankrupting the USA once and for all.
- Chairman Barack Hussein "The Teleprompter" Obama is deeply connected to corruption, Rahm Emanuel (Radical authoritarian Statist-Zionist whose father was part of the Murderous Civilian Killing Israeli Terrorist Organization known as IRGUN), Connected to Rod Blagojevich (Rahm inherited Rod's federal-congress seat), Connected to Ayers, a man who promotes the concept that civilian collateral damage is ok in a war against freedom, Preacher Jeremiah Wright, who is himself a black-elitist who wants all the people who largely "pay the freight" to suffer, 31 million on food stamps, more blacks are in prison and on food-stamps per capita than anyone else. The problem with Wright is simply this: the facts are "racist."
- Obama: Racist, AIPAC-Zionist, Corrupted and a Traitor and a Liar who can't even produce a valid birth certificate (which is not a certificate of live birth)
- Raytheon lobbyist in Pentagon
- Goldman Sachs insider second in command at Treasury.
- Cabinet has had several nominees and appointees with multiple tax fraud issues.
- The head of the IRS and the head of the Treasury, Geithner, is a Tax Cheat
- Lied about no lobbyists
- Lied about having a new degree of accountability and a SUNSHINE period of new laws, he has signed bills with little or no review at whitehouse.gov as promised.
- Appointed a second amendment violating Rich-pardoning treasonist Eric Holder as AG, the top cop of the USA, a man who helped a fugitive evade justice.
- Has not put a dime in for a single new nuclear power plant but wants to help bridges and roads to promote more driving.
- Obama, Blagojevich and Rahm Emanuel have a LOT to hide. They literally lived next to each other, Rahm had (until being Chairman Obama's Chief of staff) Blagojevich's old federal congressional seat. Blagojevich helped Chairman "The Teleprompter" Obama cheat his way to the Illinois senate by getting other candidates thrown off the ballot in Illinois. Why do you think Blagojevich was so mad? Obama DID owe him, big time. Rahm and Obama are using Blagojevich and trying to cut his head off to keep him away.
- Tony Rezko, Iraqi Arms Dealer Nahdmi Auchi, and of course Aiham Alsammarae. Chairman "The Teleprompter" Hussein Obama is so corrupted its a joke.
- Fools and "useful idiots" twist the pie charts by leaving welfare, workfare, interest on debt, social security, Medicare and Medicaid out and focusing only on non-whole "discretionary" pie charts.
2007 high level pie chart, Federal Budget, USA
2009 Pie chart, detailed, Federal Budget, USA
- Chairman Obama is drastically increasing spending and creating more entitlements that will make the US less competitive (especially against China, India, East Europe/Russia). This will be a huge disaster and change you can believe in will strap you and your grandkids with more debt. No taxation without representation? Obama is spending money for the next two-three generations and they can't even vote yet, or even have been born.
- An alternative to the dollar and a forex and a reserve currency came up at the last G20 meeting. The world will not take faith in Obama's liar-socialist spending and welfare state, why should the taxpayers (plebian citizen-slaves of a police state).
- The spending going on now vastly eclipses all previous spending. In fact, the massive trillion plus debts is a thing of the 80's onwards. Congress signs the checks, remember that Year after year, as egregious as the pentagon spending is, that the social spending is completely a waste of money and it is unfunded over the long term. Eisenhower built the interstates, the US could build a new power infrastructure with this money but instead is being pissed into creating more of an entitlement system that is ST
So now the Obama administration has moved both the census and Internet security under his watch. What is the President planning?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.