Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Despite continued threats to the security of the global cyber infrastructure, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she is opposed to the Obama administration appointing a cyber security coordinator, or “cyber czar.”

“We don’t need yet another White House czar. A czar would conflict with statutory duties established elsewhere,” Collins said.

Instead, Collins favors a cyber security “center” within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS would appoint a director for the center, and the director would report both to the DHS on a day to day basis, and act as the head adviser to the President on cybersecurity.

“Effectively managing government cybersecurity is going to require more than a few staff crammed into a cubicle in the depths of the White House,” said Collins.

Last Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano opened the DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Coordination Integration Center, which acts as a 24-hour coordinated watch and warning center to bolster cyber information sharing and incident response.

Collins said that despite its effort to manage cyber security, the DHS “still lacks the authority and resources it needs to secure our federal and private sector networks.”

She says her “center” proposal must work in accordance with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the U.S. military and private owners and operators of critical cyberspace infrastructures.

“It is vitally important that we build a strong public-private partnership to protect cyberspace, a vital engine of our economy, our government, our country and our future,” Collins concluded.