President Obama announced a new cyber-security initiative Friday that will install a “cyber czar” in the White House to coordinate U.S. defenses against high-tech hacker attacks.
Protecting cyberspace will be a national security priority for his administration, and to underline this importance Obama said he would personally select a new cyber-security coordinator. The new official will have regular access to the Oval Office, the president said.
{mosads}The new official will be responsible for integrating and coordinating all government protections of cyberspace infrastructure, and will also lead U.S. responses to any hacker attacks to U.S. networks.
The announcement follows a 60-day review by the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council of U.S. cyberspace infrastructure that was intended to lead to a strategic framework to coordinate U.S. security initiatives in the area.
The Defense Department reported 360 million hacking attempts at U.S. computers in 2008, and Obama said defense and military networks are under constant attack from hackers. The New York Times reported Friday that the Pentagon is working to create a new military command for cyber security that would be separate from the White House post.
Obama said his administration would turn its attention to developing a comprehensive strategy on cyber security.
He said the U.S. is not as secure as it should be today in terms of cyber security, and that officials fail to coordinate with each other and the private sector. Obama also described cyber threats as a great economic and national security risk to the country.
Obama also highlighted hacker attacks on his presidential campaign to underline the importance of improving cyber security.
“I know how it feels to have my privacy violated, because it has happened to me and the people I care about,” he said. Between August and October 2008, he said, hackers gained access to e-mails, policy documents and travel plans by hacking into campaign networks, though Obama stressed that donor financial and personal records remained safe.
The two councils conducting the review recommended creating a presidential cyber-security policy official and strengthening leadership and accountability at all level of the U.S. government.
U.S. lawmakers repeatedly have raised concerns that China’s government has tried to hack in to U.S. computers, something China denies. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) last year said hackers from China infiltrated a number of computers within the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Wolf said he believed the hackers were looking for information on Chinese dissidents.