Pentagon criticized for not doing more to protect homeland from cyberattacks.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITYBEAT

The Defense Department declaring that it will only be responsible for protecting its own computer networks and that the private sector must fend for itself would be like telling U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh that an air assault is coming and it must go out and buy its own fighter jets and antiaircraft guns.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

So said Richard Clarke, former national coordinator for security and counterterrorism coordinator under three presidents, at an American Bar Association speech.

Neither the Pentagon nor the U.S. government has anything resembling a strategy when it comes to protecting the nation's computer networks--including their own, said Clarke, who now works for Good Harbor consulting, and has written a book, Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It.

As far as the private sector in concerned, "The defenses we have do not work," he said. Firewalls, anti-virus software don't work, either. "None of that stuff is stopping the intrusions," he said.

Cyberespionage against U.S. corporations is so rampant that companies should now assume that most of their trade secrets are long gone and in China, he said.

The difference between cyberspying and cyberwar "is just a few keystrokes," he said.

In a scenario where the United States entered into conflict with Iran, for example, the government there could massively retaliate against the United States without leaving its borders or calling on its proxies to launch terrorist attacks. It could shut down power grids, derail trains, blow...