ADM McConnell has it right, although he's understating a key aspect of the problem. Let's postulate that we have abundant technical capability. The core of the problem, IMHO, lies with lawyers and legislators who will not permit effective utilization of the technical capability. While easier said than done, particularly in terms of domestic and international politics, we need a paradigm shift to a posture akin to Winston Churchill's charge to the World War II Special Operations Executive: “Set Europe Ablaze.” Let the dog bite a few malefactors.) MA Sends.
To Win The Cyber-War, Look To The Cold War
By Mike McConnell
The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing. It's that simple. As the most wired nation on Earth, we offer the most targets of significance, yet our cyber-defenses are woefully lacking.
The problem is not one of resources; even in our current fiscal straits, we can afford to upgrade our defenses. The problem is that we lack a cohesive strategy to meet this challenge.
. . . . . . .
How do we apply deterrence in the cyber-age? For one, we must clearly express our intent. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a succinct statement to that effect last month in Washington, in a speech on Internet freedom. “Countries or individuals that engage in cyber-attacks should face consequences and international condemnation,” she said. “In an Internet-connected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all.”
Phi Beta Iota: Admiral McConnell means well, but neither he nor Secretary of State Clinton actually have a clue about how to get from A to C much less A to Z. The absolute best analogy we ever heard was in mock testimony at the Harvard JFK intelligence policy class attended by Ken Minihan, Gretchen Sandles, Phyllis Provost-McNeil, and Robert Steele, among others. The brightest person in the class (none of the above) responded to a question on winning a nuclear war with “Senator, there are no winners in a nuclear war.” Cyber-war is in no different but cyber-war has an equally pressing value in peaceful development of cyber-capabilities such as was never allowed to blossom for nuclear energy and research toward waste-free nuclear energy. America's cyber-home is a house of cards because the US Government and the industry have been running on vaporware for the past twenty years–compare what we have to Haiti's lack of a building code, and then look to the Chilean example, where a proper building code kept the death toll to under 100 versus over 200,000 in Haiti. When Homeland Security Today published America's Cyber-Scam, identifying the sixty-three (63) individuals in the USA actually qualified to define the “building code” for computer code in the 21st Century, the sounds of silence were deafening. HST has never in its history experienced such studied non-response to a piece that was over the top on hits. Admiral McC onnell has one big thing right: the US has no strategy. He does not go far enough. The US Government has no strategy on ANYTHING, has no Strategic Analytic Model for governing, has no Management in the Executive Office of the President, and is waltzing along from day to day making policy on the basis of partisan ideology and the convenience that corruption and being out of touch allow. CNN has discovered “broken government” much too late–they refused to deal with the story in relation to the Presidential election of 2008 when every major CNN anchor received a personal copy of ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig, so we must conclude that the t heater continues, Admiral's McConnell's well-intentioned Op-Ed is a sideshow (cyber-war) on a sideshow (national security) to a sideshow (governing by mascara and mis-direction). Jim Fallows–along with William Greider one of the last truly well-read thoughtful individuals remaining in the NCA–is wrong to think that muddling through will suffice. If we do not restore both the balance of powers among the three branches of the government, and also ballot access and true democracy so that all of the eligible voters have a fair shot at both running and voting (as opposed to 30% being the winning percentage), then America–for lack of clarity and integrity–will continue its demise. The two-party tyranny AND the Federal Reserve–Goldman Sachs–Wall Street Phantom Financial Scimming have both got to go. Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) and all the Senators that voted for the bill they did not read, will go down in history as the most malignant element of corrupt governance in America's history.
