err0r Posted October 13, 2010 Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 The federal government is not really known for its effective information sharing between separate departments, but two agencies said Wednesday said they want to change that when it comes to cyber-security issues. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense signed an agreement this week under which they will work together to defend the country's Internet backbone. "We are building a new framework between our Departments to enhance operational coordination and joint program planning," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and DOD Secretary Robert Gates said in a joint statement. Specifically, the two agencies are going to cross-pollinate a bit more when it comes to personnel. DOD will send its cyber analysts to work on DHS's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) - a 24-hour incident response center that opened in October 2009. DHS, meanwhile, will send a senior staffer - as well as a support team of DHS privacy, civil liberties and legal personnel - to work at DOD's National Security Agency. "The agreement will ensure both agencies' priorities and requests for support are clearly communicated and met," Napolitano and Gates said. The announcements comes almost 1.5 years after President Obama designated cyber security as a national security priority. In December 2009, Obama selected Howard Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive, to serve as cyber-security coordinator. More recently, there was some controversy over a proposed cyber-security bill that, among other things, would allegedly provide Obama with an "Internet kill switch" in the event of an emergency. Bill sponsor Sen. Joseph Lieberman denied that was the case, but the vague wording in the bill left many concerned. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill - S. 3480 - in June, but it did not see any other action before Congress recessed for the mid-term elections recently. Source: Chloe Albanesius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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