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Statement of
the Honorable Jim Saxton
"Cyber Terrorism: The New
Asymmetric Threat"
Good morning
ladies and gentlemen. The Subcommittee on
Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and
Capabilities meets this morning to assess the
new asymmetric threat of cyber terrorism. In
particular, we would like to have a better
understanding of this threat against the
Department of Defense information technology
(IT) systems and networks.
Information
dominance is a cornerstone of the Department's
Force Transformation in the 21st
Century. We have witnessed these remarkable
technological capabilities-from sensors
gathering intelligence to sending that
information to shooters in the air or on the
ground in both Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Iraqi Freedom. This incredible
transmission of data was accomplished with
greater accuracy, in a shorter amount of time
with fewer casualties. Armed with these
incredible capabilities, our military forces
have gone into battle with more situational
awareness than any other troops in history.
While new technological advances bring
information superiority, it also brings new
responsibilities and challenges.
Technology
evolves rapidly. While programmers and
software developers build more advanced
systems to run more tasks, criminals become
more creative in their methods to break into
these systems. Their purpose may be to steal
information, wreak havoc, or send out false
commands or information. Without a
defense-wide information assurance policy and
implemented practices, the Defense
Department's networks may be vulnerable to
anyone who has a computer, the knowledge, and
willpower to launch cyber attacks.
Information
assurance (IA) is a critical issue for the
Department because it operates approximately 3
million computers, 100,000 local area networks
(LANs), and 100 long-distance networks. These
systems including military service-based,
joint defense, and intelligence computers and
networks are a part of the Global Information
Grid (GIG), part of which is dependent on
commercial civilian systems. All of these
systems are susceptible to acts of cyber
terrorists twenty-four hours a day.
I
whole-heartedly agree with Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld that IT is the enabler
behind defense transformation. What we need is
the ability to leverage the technology and
commercial best practices to ensure the
security and integrity of the Departments'
networks. This is a major undertaking with
extraordinary consequences.
While the
subcommittee recognizes the critical efforts
and difficulty of implementing the
Defense-wide Information Assurance Program (DIAP),
concerns have been raised that there is not
sufficient oversight and management at the
Department to achieve the objectives contained
in the program.
The
Subcommittee is interested to learn more about
the Department's information assurance (IA)
policy and the immediate and potential cyber
threats against the Department's IT systems
and networks. Additionally, the Subcommittee
is interested to learn about the procedures or
defense mechanisms presently in place at the
Department to counter cyber attacks. Finally,
the Subcommittee would like to know more about
the processes or best commercial practices
that private industry has implemented to
handle cyber security issues and whether these
practices are applicable to the Department.
This hearing will attempt to determine what
progress the Defense Department has made in
its implementation of the DIAP. We are also
interested to learn what challenges lie ahead
for the Department as it confronts cyber
terrorists in cyberspace.
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