[iwar] [fc:E-Government..Security.Experts.Decry.Lack.Of.Information-Sharing]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-18 08:51:37

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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 08:51:37 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:E-Government..Security.Experts.Decry.Lack.Of.Information-Sharing]
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E-Government  Security Experts Decry Lack Of Information-Sharing 
By Maureen Sirhal, National Journal, 10/18/2001
<a href="http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/pmedition/tp011017.htm#2">http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/pmedition/tp011017.htm#2>

The government must craft a policy that encourages the effective
management and sharing of information between federal agencies to help
prevent terrorist attacks, two former national security officials said
Wednesday.  Former Clinton administration National Security Adviser
Samuel (Sandy) Berger, speaking at a technology conference sponsored by
WebMethods, said the lack of information-sharing enabled some terrorists
responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks to remain in the United States
despite the fact that their names appeared on "watch lists."  "The first
dollar I would spend [to combat terrorism] would be on data
integration," Berger said. "We have to have the capacity in real time
for the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service], for the Customs
Service, for law enforcement and for the intelligence community to
intelligently share information."  The Clinton administration tried to
improve information-sharing, Berger said. For example, the FBI and the
CIA agreed to exchange top-level people and allocate resources to
boosting intelligence between agencies. But "policy issues" created
hurdles that have inhibited effective data integration.  "None of them
are insurmountable," Berger said, "and all of them we've got to blow
through one way or another."  He said dozens of government databases are
incompatible because they function on several platforms and with
different software and standards. Policy restrictions on the sharing of
sensitive information between law enforcement organizations and national
security agencies also complicate communication.  To boost
information-sharing, agencies must ensure adequate cyber security, said
R. James Woolsey, a former CIA director under former President Clinton.
Woolsey said only some departments have addressed cyber security.  "We
need to do some very hard thinking about how we manage our
infrastructure," he said. "Much of our ability to deal successfully with
the war [against terrorism] ... will depend upon the speed and
adaptability of American business, particularly in the high-tech sector,
and whether it is able to do some of the kinds of things that this
country has done" in past conflicts.  Berger acknowledged that
information-sharing does have its limits because of national security.
"How much data can the CIA really share? If you are going to have
integrated databases," he said, "that means a lot of more people are
going to have a lot of access to a lot of information."  Woolsey
cautioned that any e-government proposal, including plans to create a
government-only Internet dubbed Govnet, needs to encompass technology to
authenticate the identities of federal workers who access information. The problem, he said, is that not everyone in government is loyal. "If
once you get into [Govnet] you have pretty much free access, you haven't
really solved the problem."  "Obviously you are not just going to create
one big database and give everyone a password," Berger added. "This has
got to multiple systems, variegated systems. It has to have different
access for people."  Woolsey said he envisions the need for national
identification cards to "keep track" of citizens, but he added that any
such plan must balance law enforcement needs and civil liberties.

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