Amit Yoran Testimony re DHS NSA and Cyber Security

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Amit Yoran Testimony re DHS NSA and Cyber Security

The Testimony is at:

http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20090310143803-93069.pdf


The entire hearing testimony site is :
http://homeland.house.gov/hearings/index.asp?ID=175


Yorin's testimony is excellent overall, but below is the bit I thought  
particularly worth reading:

"Homeland Security.
o The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has demonstrated  
inefficiency and leadership failure in its cyber efforts. While  
pockets of progress have been made, administrative incompetence and  
political infighting have squandered meaningful progress and for years  
now our adversaries continue to aggressively press their advantage.  
Recently, the Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair,  
told the House intelligence committee that the NSA, rather than the  
Department of Homeland Security which currently oversees  
cybersecurity, has the smarts and the skills to secure cyberspace. In  
his assessment of both organizations he is absolutely correct. DHS has  
repeated failed to either attract or retain the leadership and  
technical acumen required to successfully lead in the cyber mission  
space. On a number of occasions proven, talented and knowledgeable  
leaders from within the government or successful experts from private  
sector have joined the department in hopes of meaningful contribution.  
In its cyber responsibilities DHS has a consistent track record for  
tolerating political infighting, individual egos and shenanigans over  
prioritizing and executing its cyber responsibilities in a mature  
fashion. While the tendency would be to migrate the cyber mission to  
the NSA, that would be ill advised for all of the reasons provided  
earlier. In Rod Beckstrom’s resignation letter last week, he states,  
“NSA effectively controls DHS cyber efforts thru detailees, technology  
insertion and the proposed move of NPPD and the NCSC to a Ft Meade NSA  
facility. NSA currently dominates most national cyber efforts…The  
intelligence culture is very different than a network operations or  
security culture. In addition, the threats to our democratic processes  
are significant if all top level government network security and  
monitoring are handled by any one organization.” This could not have  
been more accurately stated. We must enable civil government to  
succeed at this mission. This being said, it is far past time we fix  
the DHS problems and move forward."







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