17 June 2011. Head of NSA and Cybercom, Keith Alexander, attended Bilderberg
2011 to advance this throttling intiative. As Charlie Skelton wrote in the
Guardian yesterday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/16/bilderberg-2011-tipping-point
Speaking of personality disorders when Peter Mandelson, who pushed
through the digital economy bill, sits down with Keith Alexander the
director of the NSA and head of United States Cyber Command to discuss "Social
Networks: Connectivity and Security Issues" you can be pretty sure they aren't
hammering out how best to preserve the freedom of the internet.
Add a liberal sprinkling of cyber power in the form of Mark Hughes (Facebook),
Eric Schmidt (Google) and Craig Mundie (Microsoft) and you have the perfect
formula for a lock-down. Let's hope Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner
for digital agenda, got to push her "No Disconnect Strategy". I'd pay good
money to have heard the head of the NSA's views on that one.
Cybergag comments on June 16, 2011 by Alexander.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64351
Deputy Secretary Lynn Details Anti-Cyber Threat Strategy
By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service
PARIS, June 16, 2011 The world is at a crossroads in the development
of threats in the cyber realm, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III
said here today.
More destructive attack capabilities are being developed but havent
yet been used, Lynn told participants in the Center for Strategic Decision
Researchs 28th International Workshop on Global Security. And the terrorist
groups most likely to use such capabilities to attack cyber systems, he told
the group, have yet to acquire them.
This situation will not hold forever, the deputy secretary said.
Terrorist organizations or rogue states could obtain and use destructive
cyber capabilities. The window of opportunity to develop stronger defenses
before that happens is of uncertain duration, he added.
Lynn said three avenues of action are necessary to prevail against the spectrum
of cyber threats.
First, we must raise the level of protection in government and military
networks, he said. We must ready our defense institution to confront
cyber threats, because it is clear that any future conflict will have a cyber
dimension. Future adversaries will seek to use our reliance on information
technology against us. We must be prepared to defend our networks
effectively.
The U.S. Defense Department is moving aggressively to counter the cyber threat,
Lynn told the audience, noting that as a doctrinal matter, the military must
be able to defend and operate freely in cyberspace.
Over the past two years, we have deployed specialized active defenses
to protect military networks, and we have established the U.S. Cyber Command
to operate and defend them, he said. And we are developing a
comprehensive cyber strategy that will guide how each military service trains,
equips and commands its forces for the cyber mission.
And as the United States prepares its own forces to face the cyber challenge,
Lynn said, it must pursue a second avenue of action: working with allies
and partners on collective cyber defenses to strengthen their collective
ability to monitor and respond to intrusions.
In cyberspace, the more attack signatures you can see, and the more
intrusions you can trace, the better your defense will be, he explained.
In this way, the Cold War construct of shared warning has applications
to cyberspace today. Just as our air and space defenses are linked with those
of our allies to provide warning of airborne and missile attacks, so too
can we cooperatively monitor our computer networks for cyber intrusions.
The Defense Department has worked with NATO nations and other partners to
strengthen cyber engagements, Lynn said.
For the Department of Defense, he added, the international
strategy provides a framework for our contribution to an effort that has
many facets, from Internet freedom and e-commerce to cybercrime law enforcement
and international norms of behavior.
Ultimately, he continued, this strategy will help us build
a coalition of nations whose mutual interest in securing cyberspace will
ensure the benefits we derive from it flow uninterrupted.
A consensus for action on cybersecurity is emerging in Europe, Lynn said.
NATO is unanimous in acknowledging the need to elevate its treatment
of network security, he said. The new strategic concept names
cybersecurity as a leading priority for NATO in the 21st century. In
addition, he said, NATO made a high-level commitment to cybersecurity when
the heads of state and government of its member nations met in Lisbon, Portugal,
last year.
As a result, Lynn said, NATO has undertaken efforts to better defend its
networks.
The commitment to take NATOs Cyber Incident Response Center to
full operating capability by 2012 is a significant step in the right
direction, he said, adding that the alliances defense ministers
approved final cyber security policy guidance when they met last week.
The European Union also is moving rapidly to address cybersecurity, Lynn
said, noting that he has conferred with EUs high representative, and
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has met with EUs home
affairs commissioner.
And a joint cyber exercise slated for later this year will help establish
how our computer incident response centers can work in partnership with the
EUs new cyber security unit, he added.
The third avenue of action is to form public-private partnerships with the
operators of critical infrastructure, Lynn told the group.
We need to work with industry to raise the level of network defenses
in industrial sectors that are crucial to our economy and to the functioning
of our militaries, the deputy secretary said. This is, in many
ways, the most consequential to the security of our societies.
Cyber threats target much more than military systems, Lynn explained.
Cyber intruders have already probed many U.S. government networks,
our electrical grid, and our financial system, he said. The failure
of any one of these could cause massive physical damage and economic
disruption.
Protecting critical infrastructure not only is essential to the functioning
of daily life, Lynn said, but also is crucial to national security. He noted
that in the United States, as in Europe, military bases and installations
are part of -- and not separate from -- the civilian infrastructure that
supports towns and cities.
Ninety-nine percent of the electricity the U.S. military uses comes
from civilian sources, he said. Ninety percent of U.S. military
voice and Internet communications travel over the same private networks that
service homes and offices. We also rely on the nations transportation
system to move military freight, we rely on commercial refineries to provide
fuel, and we rely on the financial industry to pay our bills.
Disruptions to any one of these sectors would significantly affect defense
operations, and a cyber attack against more than one could be devastating,
Lynn said.
In short, secure military networks will matter little if the power
grid goes down or the rest of government stops functioning, he told
the audience. Protecting the networks that undergird critical
infrastructure must be part of our national security and homeland defense
missions.
Making protection of critical infrastructure part of the defense mission
will require a strong partnership with agencies that have jurisdiction over
systems critical to military effectiveness, Lynn said. In the United States,
he added, the Homeland Security Department has responsibility for protecting
the dot-gov domain and for leading government efforts to protect
critical infrastructure in the dot-com domain.
In the past year, we have signed a memorandum of agreement with the
Department of Homeland Security that codifies our commitment to seamlessly
coordinating cybersecurity efforts, he said. We have established
a joint planning capability and exchange of personnel in our cyber watch
centers, and we are helping Homeland Security deploy advanced defensive
technologies on our government networks.
The critical infrastructure upon which the defense establishment depends
also extends to the private companies that produce military equipment and
weapons, the deputy secretary said. He outlined a program called Defense
Industrial Base Cyber Pilot, established last month, in which the Defense
Department, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, shares
classified threat information and the know-how to employ it with participating
defense companies or their Internet service providers to help them defend
their computer networks from attack or exploitation.
Without question, developments in cyberspace have redefined the front
lines of national security, Lynn said. Within a few short years,
information technology has transitioned from a support function to a strategic
element of power in its own right. As a result, future conflicts will
unquestionably have a cyber dimension. The doctrine, organizational structure,
and resource allocation of our defense ministries must change to reflect
this new reality.
But efforts cannot end there, he added, as the challenges in cyberspace are
not amenable to narrow solutions.
No single agency can tackle the required issues, he said. No
one nation can devise or enforce a sustainable solution. And no combination
of nations can succeed without partnering with private-sector companies.
The range of actions necessary to enhance cybersecurity will require engagement
in our defense institutions, across our governments, between our nations,
and between the public and private sectors.
In short, Lynn continued, we must work together, as everyone
-- from ordinary citizens, to the owners and operators of critical
infrastructure, to our warfighters on the front lines -- has a stake in
cybersecurity.
Like other security challenges that galvanize like-minded nations,
cyber threats can be more ably defeated through collective action,
he added. And just as we have for the last 60 years, I am confident
that we can act collectively against this threat and make the investments
in capability and interoperability necessary for us to prevail.
http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/2011/gen_alexander_lincoln_award.shtml
GEN Alexander Receives Lincoln Award for Patriotism, Public Service
June 16, 2011
GEN Keith B. Alexander Commander, U.S. Cyber Command/Director, NSA/Chief,
CSS received the prestigious Abraham Lincoln Award at the annual Flag
Day-Army Birthday celebration by the Union League of Philadelphia.
Such leagues were founded during the Civil War to support President Lincoln
and the preservation of the Union; Philadelphias was the first. GEN
Alexander thanked organizers for the honor, which recognizes his distinguished
public service, and emphasized how some of the greatest threats now facing
the United States can be launched from a computer keyboard.
Cybersecurity threats are both real and constant, he said at Tuesdays
event adding that information technology breakthroughs have given
our adversaries cheaper and often effective cyber weapons to harm U.S. computer
networks and systems. "Our nation is at risk."
The response must be coordinated, he said. To that end, the federal government
partners with private industry and international allies to strengthen
cybersecurity.
The challenge is formidable, but the nation is certainly up to it. American
ingenuity sparked companies like Google and the creation of the Internet,
GEN Alexander noted. "We ought to be the ones to secure (cyber space) for
the good of our country, and I think that we can."
Before an audience of nearly 400 guests, Joan Carter, the leagues
president, praised the Director for his patriotism and professional achievements.
The June 14 ceremony was marked by spirited tributes to active duty, retired,
and deceased military personnel and to their families. At one point,
a uniformed Army first sergeant reciting a poem about "Old Glory"
while carrying a folded American flag slowly marched from the podium
and through the audience to present the flag to GEN Alexander. The league
said the flag presentation was done to recognize the critical work performed
by the National Security Agency/Central Security Service.
Previous military recipients of the Abraham Lincoln Award include GEN David
H. Petraeus, International Security Assistance Force Commander, and GEN Peter
W. Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff for the Army.
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