Cybersecurity

In the Godfather saga, one of the recurring concerns was security. They were endlessly arranging meetings, and the issue of who was providing security was a vital question. In fact, interfamily mob warfare first broke out after a careless comment made by Sonny Corleone about who was guaranteeing security for a proposed meeting.

Sad to say, this country has apparently still not learned its lesson, despite Pearl Harbor and more recently the World Trade Center. The latest news is that a bill in the US Senate to increase funding for cybersecurity was defeated this week. As a result, our nation will remain open and vulnerable to computer attacks by our enemies, whether it be state-sponsored or by terrorists. To make matters worse, everyone is in complete agreement concerning our vulnerability and the possibility of a crippling attack at any time. Despite agreement by all parties, we are going to leave ourselves open to attack for the foreseeable future. When asked about this state of affairs, the Administration official in charge of cyberwarfare stated bluntly that he was surprised a crippling attack had not yet occurred.

Apparently, a cyberattack could take the form of a computer attack against our electrical grid, which could have the effect of creating a blackout that would affect anything dependent upon electricity to function. I am no expert, but this would seem to cover almost everything imaginable in a modern society. From what I read, such a crippling blow could not easily or quickly be rectified.

We spend over a half trillion dollars every year on our military for security, an amount equal to the next 10 nations combined, yet we leave ourselves open to cyberattack because of political differences! Typically, it seems another disaster will be required before we can get moving on this problem. In the meantime, we will remain painfully vulnerable to disaster.

Something like this-- which apparently no one disputes as a clear and present danger--makes me feel very angry and insecure. It demonstrates the depths to which our feckless politicians are willing to go for short-term partisan advantage, and to please business interests opposed to necessary defensive measures.

The Senate vote didn't even make front page news.