Homeland overhaul would put new focus on telecom

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's plans to promote his cyber director and expand the office's portfolio to include telecommunications would put attention and focus on an issue that had been buried in bureaucracy.

Chertoff said he would dissolve the emergency preparedness and response directorate and create a wing that addresses only preparedness activities. Within that division, Chertoff would like to place the new assistant secretary for cyber security and telecommunications along with an assistant secretary to protect other critical infrastructure such as the finance and agriculture sectors.

The secretary needs Congress to approve his proposal to break up emergency preparedness and response activities, according to a letter he sent to lawmakers last week.

A spokesman for House Homeland Security Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, said on Monday that the chairman would insist on reviewing the legislative proposal. "We're definitely going to keep a watchful eye on cyber security," said the spokesman. Barton last year fought to retain jurisdiction over cyber security issues at the department.

Currently, the cyber security director serves as the focal point for coordinating the government's efforts to safeguard the nation's computers. But the position is tucked within the infrastructure protection wing of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) directorate. Chertoff plans to splinter IAIP and have the information analysis resources absorbed into a chief intelligence office. The cyber security czar would handle computer and telecommunication on the same level as the assistant secretary for infrastructure protection. Both assistant secretaries would report to the undersecretary for emergency preparedness.

The preparedness undersecretary position along with the assistant secretary for cyber security and telecommunications are politically appointed positions. President Bush has yet to name anyone to fill the slots, and the Senate must approve them.

"The cyber security component ... will be responsible for collecting, analyzing, and coordinating access to information related to potential cyber terrorist threats and will coordinate department-wide activities on cyber threats with cyber infrastructure," wrote the secretary to lawmakers last Wednesday.

He added that the telecommunications component would support that infrastructure to "meet mission critical national security" needs for federal officials as well as state and local and private industries communicate with each other during an emergency.