Long-awaited security report released

"Report of the President of the United States on the Status of Federal Critical Infrastructure Protection Activities"

The Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office this week released President Clinton's report to Congress on the status of federal efforts to secure the information systems that support the nation's critical infrastructure.

The 209-page report, mandated under the fiscal 2001 Defense Authorization Act, details all of the work coordinated through the CIAO and the National Security Council over the past three years on critical infrastructure protection (CIP). It covers the status of:

efforts to build a public-private sector partnership to meet the CIP challenge. internal agency CIP planning. education and training initiatives. CIP research and development initiatives. Members of Congress have criticized agencies for falling behind in developing and implementing their CIP plans. And last month when the White House had not sent the status report to Congress by Jan. 15 as required under the authorization act, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, wrote a letter calling for its release.

The report also includes independent status reports from several industry sectors, including banking and finance, electric power, and oil and gas.

The federal CIP efforts fully started in May 1998 when Clinton signed Presidential Decision Directive 63, which requires agencies to take steps to protect the systems that support the U.S. infrastructure. Agency efforts, coordinated through the CIAO, are also directed through the National Plan for Information Systems Protection that the White House issued in January 2000.