Panel urges better security at Defense agencies

The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century on Wednesday called for sweeping changes within the government's defense agencies to address emerging threats such as cyberterrorism.

"There ought to be central, strategic planning in national security," said former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., who, along with former Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., co-chaired the congressionally mandated commission that released its third report on national security. "We believe very deeply the threats to our homeland, in terms of chemical [and] cyberwarfare ... have to be dealt with."

The commission also recommended a doubling of the government's investment in science and technology research and development by 2010. Overall, it said the R&D budget should top $160 billion by then. The commission recommended strengthening the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the scope of the science adviser, formerly Neal Lane in the Clinton administration. Bush has yet to name someone to that position.

In addition, the commission proposed that Congress establish a National Security Science and Technology Education Act (NSSTEA) that would: reduce interest on student loans for students who pursue degrees in science, math and engineering; provide loan forgiveness and scholarships for people in these those fields who enter government and military service; create a national security teaching program to foster science and math teaching at the K-12 level; and increase funding for professional development of math and science teachers.

"In the future, we're going to have to be the best educated, the best in scientific research, the best in technology," Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "If we fail in that, we fail across the board."

The commission's recommendations currently are being discussed with the Bush administration and congressional leaders.

A Senate Armed Services subcommittee focused on emerging threats, and chaired by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., recently has identified cybersecurity as a vulnerability for the United States because the threat is so new. On behalf of Senate leaders, Roberts said on Wednesday that his subcommittee accepts the challenges put forth by the report and will hold hearings on cybersecurity and other threats next month.

"This nation is not prepared to defend against attacks to our homeland... including the cyber threats we are facing right now," he said. "We have a moral responsibility to take action."

Former House Speaker and commission member Newt Gingrich said that the private sector must increase its cybersecurity measures and that the government must develop a model for cybersecurity based on industry input.

James Schlesinger, both a former energy and defense secretary and former CIA director, added that the private sector is far more vulnerable than the federal government. The private sector "has been slow to recognize the problem," Schlesinger said.