Panel presses Ridge on cybersecurity, information analysis

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Wednesday was peppered with questions from some members of the House Homeland Security Committee seeking information on getting more federal money to their districts. But several lawmakers also pressed Ridge on cybersecurity plans and the department's relationship with the new Terrorist Threat Information Center housed at the CIA.

In the conclusion of a two-part hearing before the committee, Ridge said that analysts at the information analysis and infrastructure protection directorate would not have access to all of the intelligence community's raw data, but that directorate analysts housed at the threat center would have that access. He also said information could derive from various agencies of the Homeland Security Department and be sent to the threat center.

Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., raised concern about whether the new department is meeting its statutory requirement to analyze all of the government's intelligence data.

Ridge also said future terrorist exercises like one last week would include cyber attacks, though he said there are enough real cyber attacks occurring to make it unnecessary to try to simulate them. He repeated that cybersecurity and physical security are so interdependent that it is impossible to focus just on cyber security.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the Cybersecurity, Science, Research and Development Subcommittee, said Wednesday's hearing with Science and Technology Undersecretary Charles McQueary was the first in a series of hearings his subcommittee will hold on cyber security and on science and technology. He plans to question experts from academia, think tanks, industry and government in the future, he said.

Ridge repeatedly urged states to develop homeland security plans that specify how they intend to spend federal dollars. He reiterated that the formula for granting aid must be reworked. "We're going to have a challenge politically and otherwise to change that formula," he said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said that under the current formula, Wyoming would get more per capita than California. "The backbone of the Internet in Silicon Valley is probably more of a target of al Qaeda than the beautiful vistas of Wyoming," she said.

Ridge called on states and localities to delay purchases of emergency-response technologies until some guidance can be issued on making systems interoperable. The purchase of non-networked systems may be "great for vendors," Ridge said, but does not solve the communication problems of "first responders" to emergencies. He said he has heard from states and localities that communications equipment is their top priority.

Ridge said he and Secretary of State Colin Powell have met twice to discuss biometric technologies for immigration procedures, as the two departments are working toward an understanding on the issue. And Ridge said his department has resolved most of the technological problems in a database for tracking foreign students in the United States and will proceed with the program despite complaints.

He also said a group, including the science and technology directorate, is "seriously looking at" the use of unmanned aerial vehicles along the borders.