Bill would create National Cybersecurity Advisor

A significant amount of my time at the State Department is taken up by annoying cybersecurity protocols. Given the recent highly publicized hackings into DoS, DoD, and other government offices, these protocols are accepted as necessary nuisances by government employees. Unfortuantely, not even these steps have protected our computer networks from intrusion and abuse, which is why Senators Olympia Snowe and Jay Rockefellar have introduced legislation to beef up our nation's cybersecurity.

The bill would "create an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, a new White House position designed to beef up the nation's information security policies. The new office goes hand-in-hand with the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, another proposed bill that would create an entire panel of security experts brought in from the government, private sector, and universities. All together, the two pieces of legislation would require that government networks and software meet a set of security standards and vulnerability tests -- and, more controversially, that private networks deemed "critical infrastructure" by the President meet these standards as well. What's more, the President can order the disconnection of those networks during a "cybersecurity emergency" or national security emergency if needed, and security professionals will need to be licensed by the government to work on them" (Engadget).

I for one hope these bills become law so that the United States can maintain its competitive edge in networking and cyber-warfare. Since everything is networked, having a secure IT system is a must. If the aircraft carrier was the dominant new conventional weapon of the 20th century, then cyber-warfare is the new dominant conventional weapon of the 21st century.