September 12, 2014
A New Threat Grows Amid Shades Of 9/11; Former Co-Chairs Of 9/11 Commission Advocate Creation Of National Cyber Commission And, National Cyber Center
Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, the original Co-Chairs of the September 11, 2001 Commission, authored a report released earlier this summer by the Bipartisan Policy Center, titled: “Today’s Rising Terrorist Threat And, The Danger To The United States.” Today, (Sept. 11, 2014) the two Co-Chairs had an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, “A New Threat Grows Amid Shades Of 9/11,” which restated the key takeaways from their recently released study. “Ten years ago,” the two write, “the 9/11 Commission triggered the most significant reorganization of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) since 1947.” Not all of them positive or good in my view, the most glaring mistake being the creation of the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI); but, that is an argument for a different day.
Messrs. Hamilton and Kean write that “most of the new report ‘s observations focused on counterterrorism, the central focus of the 9/11 Commission. But, in speaking with many of the nation’s most senior national-security leaders, we were struck that every one of those experts expressed concern about another issue: daily cyber attacks against the country’s most sensitive public and private computer networks.
“A growing chorus of national security experts describes the cyber realm as the battlefield of the future,” they write. “American life is becoming ever more dependent on the Internet.” That also applies — to a large degree — to our military forces. “At the same time,” Messrs. Dean and Hamilton write, “government and private computer networks in the U.S. are under relentless cyber attack. This is more than an academic concern,” they argue, “attacks in the digital world can inflict serious damage in the physical world. Hackers can threaten the control systems of critical facilities like dams, water-treatment plants, and the power grid. A hacker able to remotely control a dam, pumping station, or oil pipeline could unleash large-scale devastation. As terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State grow and become more sophisticated, the threat of [a large-scale] cyber attack increases as well.”
“On a similar scale, but equally unsettling, ordinary building systems like electronic door locks, elevators and video-surveillance cameras (today present in many homes) are also vulnerable to penetration by hackers. Even life-sustaining medical devices, many of which contain embedded computer systems connected to the Internet…could be disabled by cyber attacks.”
“Others steal Americans’ sensitive personal information and sell it to organized crime rings. The theft of debit and credit-card numbers from tens of millions of Target customers last year is the most prominent example; but, this happens every day. Home Depot confirmed on Monday that it had been hit by a massive data breach.”
“Meanwhile,” Messrs. Dean and Hamilton write, “state-sponsored cyber intruders have stolen the plans to Top Secret U.S. weapons systems, reducing America’s technological advantage; and, putting [our] military personnel and the homeland at risk. For example,” they note, “Chinese hackers have used cyber infiltration to gain access to plans for the F-35, Joint Strike Fighter, the Global Hawk surveillance drone, and other advanced systems. State-sponsored hackers have also made off with reams of American companies intellectual property — business secrets worth hundreds of billions of dollars. General (ret.) Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency Director has described the continued ransacking of American companies as, “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.”
“We are at war in the digital world,” Messrs. Dean and Hamilton contend. “And yet, because this war lacks attention-grabbing explosions and body bags, the American people remain largely unaware of the danger. That needs to change. Only public attention can create the political momentum for needed reform.”
“There are a number of cyber-related legislative initiatives pending in Congress. One of the most promising is legislation in the House and Senate that would encourage companies to share information about cyber attacks with the government, so that national security agencies can analyze the attacks and respond to them. The former 9/11 Commissions’ recent report endorsed such legislation, and it is an important first step. Given the dimension of the problem, however, a larger-scale effort is needed to elevate public awareness; and, get out in front of this rapidly changing threat. Simply put, the country needs a national cyber strategy, covering all aspects of the problem. This could be accomplished by taking two essential steps,”
“First, Congress should pass legislation creating a National Cyber Commission. The Commission should be empowered to evaluate the cyber threat to the U.S., both to the government and private entities. It should also assess the capabilities that national-security agencies and the private sector presses today; and, measure those capabilities against what will be needed as the threat grows. The Commission should conduct its work as transparently as possible and should deliver unclassified findings and recommendations to Congress and the American people. The Commission should be non-partisan; and, should include experts in technology, law, and national security.”
“Second, Congress should create a National Cyber Center, which would bring together government and private experts to ensure unity of effort on this crosscutting problem. The National Counterterrorism Center, created 10 years ago in response to a 9/11 Commission recommendation, is working well. At the NCTC, counterterrorism experts from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies sit side-by-side, share terrorism-threat information, and coordinate responses. There is no counterpart to this proven model for information-sharing in the cyber realm — a major gap in America’s cyber defenses.”
“In recent months,” Messrs. Dean and Hamilton conclude, “we have heard time and again from leading experts that the cyber threat is serious — and, that the government is not doing enough. One lesson of the 9/11 story is that as a nation, we didn’t awaken to the gravity of the terrorist threat until it was too late. We must not repeat that mistake in the cyber realm.”
This article is rich and interesting with much to think about. So, I will save any additional comments till I have had a chance to think about these recommendations; and, what they might do to help — as well as unintentionally hamper our ability to counter and mitigate the cyber threat. V/R, RCP
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