FBI cyber chief heralds interagency cooperation

Ron Dick, the director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, said the FBI's new effort to partner with the Secret Service on investigating cyber crimes is aimed at marshalling resources.

At the launch of the national cybersecurity protection plan last week, the FBI and Secret Service announced a new pilot program where several field offices of both agencies agreed to work together on investigating cyber crimes to determine who is behind a particular attack.

"If you look at what we've done with the Infragard program and what they've done with the Electronic Crimes Task Force...we can leverage the capabilities of both staffs," said Dick in an interview with National Journal's Technology Daily.

Infragard, created in 1996, enables the private sector and federal government to share information about cyber crimes confidentially. The Secret Service created a national electronic crimes task force in 1995 in its New York field office to investigate electronic financial crimes.

"There is a shortage of resources and skills and ability to investigate [security breaches], so if we blend the two [programs]," there will be strengths in different areas, he said.

Separately, Dick defended the administration's decision not to have regulations in the national cybersecurity plan. Some critics of the plan have charged that it is weak because it relies on private sector cooperation with the government.

"It's the current administration's position not to use regulation or statutory changes to secure cyberspace ... because 80 percent [of it] is owned and operated by the private sector, and this has to be a partnership not mandated by regulation but by good practices," Dick said. "The whole crux for infrastructure protection comes down to one word: trust."

When asked if there is date by which the nation's computer networks should be secure, Dick said, "No ... but if we still don't have protection of the system ... then the government would step in. But we aren't even close to that. The right model is to attempt to do this with a trusted partnership and see if it works."

Dick said since last year's terrorist attacks, information sharing efforts by federal agencies and within the private sector has improved. He noted that the CIA has detailed a staff member to the NIPC and there is an interagency group, which includes the NIPC, Treasury, Justice and the Defense departments aimed at sharing investigative efforts.

"I have seen nothing but willingness of agencies to share information," he said.

The majority of the NIPC is slated to move to the Homeland Security Department when Congress approves its creation. The training, outreach and strategy and analysis portions of the NIPC are scheduled to move to the new department, while the investigative component is to remain within the FBI, Dick said.