Boehlert says IT security is getting short shrift

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) today said the Bush administration has failed to put its cybersecurity money where its mouth is. A year after passage of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act, as well as the more recent Homeland Security Act, “We’re still not devoting anything like a sufficient amount of money to cybersecurity,” Boehlert said. “It’s hard to tell from the [administration’s] budget exactly what federal money is going into cybersecurity.” Boehlert, chairman of the House Science Committee, spoke this morning at a Capitol Hill conference sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America. He and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) called for creation of a senior advisory post for IT security within the Homeland Security Department. The new department gives the government a chance to centralize IT security efforts effectively, Boehlert said, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen. “HSD does not seem to be organized or funded in a way that focuses on this,” he said. “Frankly, the administration has not been especially forthcoming with information to aid congressional oversight.” Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) advised lawmakers to be patient in judging the new department’s progress. He noted that when the Transportation Department was formed in the late 1960s, it needed three years before it was “up and running.” Full Story