US Law makers voice concerns over cybersecurity plan

Members of the House of Representative sought details, on Thursday, of a $30 billion plan to secure federal government systems and upgrade network defenses to ward off attacks from foreign nations and online criminals.

Known as the Cyber Initiative, the Bush Administration project would dramatically reduce the number of interconnections between federal government networks and the Internet and put more advanced network security in place to monitor data traffic for signs of malicious attacks. While the 5- to 7-year project could dramatically improve the network defenses of government agencies, law makers questioned whether the initiative will be too little, too late, and whether the resulting network monitoring could undermine privacy.

"It's hard to believe that this Administration now believes it has the answers to secure our federal networks and critical infrastructure," Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in prepared remarks at the opening of the hearing on Thursday. "I believe cybersecurity is a serious problem -- maybe the most complicated national security issue in terms of threat and jurisdiction. This problem will be with us for decades to come." >> More ...