Two leaders in the Senate on homeland security issues yesterday praised the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for its proposal to dramatically increase spending on cyber security in the FY ’13 budget request, saying it shows a strong commitment to boosting the nation’s cyber defenses.
However, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the impending threat of automatic budget cuts that could go into effect next January unless Congress and the Obama Administration reach an agreement on debt reduction would seriously impact her department’s front line operations, including cyber defenses.
Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee among the impacts of the budget sequestration would be “eliminating the cyber security infrastructure that has been developed in recent years.”
At the outset of yesterday’s hearing to examine the DHS FY ’13 budget request, Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.) said that he’s in complete agreement with the proposal to increase spending on cyber security by $325.8 million to $770 million. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member on the panel, also praised the proposed spending increase noting that most of her Senate colleagues are likely “unaware of just how developed” DHS’ cyber security efforts are.
Lieberman said that the nation’s defenses for its computer and information networks “are the most significant vulnerability we have in homeland security today.”
Napolitano said the additional funding would enable DHS to accelerate its deployment of the Einstein 3 system for automatically detecting intrusions into federal computer networks. She also said that it would increase the size the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team by about 31 percent.
US-CERT is the DHS group that responds to cyber attacks to federal networks and also works with the private sector on cyber security.
The proposed budget increase for cyber security would “give us the tools to meet the responsibilities we already have in the cyber security arena,” Napolitano said.
The proposed budget would also establish a new cyber security initiative, called the Cybersecurity Capability Improvement Program, by providing $202 million to address vulnerabilities in federal network cyber security, support continuous monitoring at federal agencies, improve situational awareness of cyber threats on federal networks, and attempt to resolve threats more quickly, according to DHS budget documents. The program aims to help federal agencies improve their cyber security posture in line with the Federal Information Security Management Act.
Regarding the threat of sequestration, Napolitano said the 8 percent cut that would hit DHS would mean more than $3 billion in reductions to department operations, meaning that border, aviation and maritime security would suffer as would trade and customs, and illegal immigration enforcement and removal operations.