Posted on 04/16/2004 7:17:42 AM PDT by adam_az
Thank you, and here's Jamie Gorelick. (Applause.)
MS. GORELICK: Mr. President, distinguished guests. Ten years ago I would not have put cyber terrorism at the top of the threats to our national security. But the landscape has changed. Given how well-armed we are, as Josh said, as a nation, but how reliant we are on computers in our everyday business and private lives, our nation's cyber systems become a tremendous target.
Today a small group of technically sophisticated people with nothing more than off-the-shelf computer equipment can get into, can disrupt the computers and the Internet connections on which our finance, telecommunications, power, water systems, emergency service systems all depend.
Is this speculation? No, it is not. In exercise eligible receiver, our Defense Department conducted a war game using this technique and came to just that conclusion. And terrorists, organized crime, drug cartels, as well as nation states are either creating cybertech capabilities or are talking about using them. I believe that cyberspace is the next battlefield for this nation.
Now, cyber terrorism may be a new issue to many Americans, but it's not new to me and it's not new to this administration. In 1995, our Attorney General asked me to chair a critical infrastructure working group that brought together Justice and Defense and the intelligence community to begin to address what we saw as a new and emerging threat. The President then appointed a commission on critical infrastructure protection whose advisory board I co-chaired.
In response to his commission's work, last year the President signed two directives -- to strengthen U.S. readiness to meet unconventional threats to our nation, and to protect our critical infrastructures. He appointed a national coordinator, Dick Clarke, to review and handle and coordinate security infrastructure protection and counterterrorism, and a national plan is under development to ensure that America can defend itself in cyberspace.
Now, as part of that national plan I hope that we can see action in a number of areas, three of which I see as particularly pressing. The first, both the public and private sectors need to be aware of the problem and the security measures that can be taken to address it. I'd like to see the private sector work with the federal government to make sure that we have enough people who are trained in computer security, which we do not now have.
Being originally from NYC - I know exactly what you mean - and don't disagree.
This "commission" is nothing but a farce.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Gorelick was Vice Chair of the Task Force on the Audit, Inspection and Investigative Components of the Department of Defense, which led to the institution of an Inspector General there, and she was Assistant to the Secretary and Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy.
Once again, the Demorats PROVE they are a criminal conspiracy -- interested ONLY in power and the destruction of American values...
Semper Fi
[T]he 1995 Procedures limited contacts between the FBI and [DOJ's] Criminal Division in cases where FISA surveillance or searches were being conducted by the FBI for foreign intelligence (FI) or foreign counterintelligence (FCI) purposes. . . . The procedures state that "the FBI and Criminal Division should ensure that advice intended to preserve the option of a criminal prosecution does not inadvertently result in either the fact or the appearance of the Criminal Division's directing or controlling the FI or FCI investigation toward law enforcement objectives." 1995 Procedures at 2, 6 (emphasis added). Although these procedures provided for significant information sharing and coordination between criminal and FI or FCI investigations, based at least in part on the "directing or controlling" language, they eventually came to be narrowly interpreted within the Department of Justice, and most particularly by [the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy Review (OIPR)], as requiring OIPR to act as a "wall" to prevent the FBI intelligence officials from communicating with the Criminal Division regarding ongoing FI or FCI investigations. . . . Thus, the focus became the nature of the underlying investigation, rather than the general purpose of the surveillance. Once prosecution of the target was being considered, the procedures, as interpreted by OIPR in light of the case law, prevented the Criminal Division from providing any meaningful advice to the FBI. (Italics mine except where otherwise indicated.)
As Deputy Attorney General, Gorelick introduced new managerial structures to guide the Department in the midst of a 30 percent increase in the Department's personnel and a 70 percent budget increase during her tenure.
One of Ms. Gorelick's principal priorities was to help prepare the Justice Department to be able to respond effectively to the new challenges of transnational crime and terrorism. To do this, she forged new relationships and administrative protocols with the Departments of State, Treasury and Defense, and with the intelligence community.
The Deputy Attorney General also worked with the Department's law enforcement components to better respond to crisis situations in the aftermath of the incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco. After the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995, she coordinated the government's overall response to the bombing and supervised the investigative and prosecutorial response to the crisis.
"In all of her work with law enforcement," Reno added, "Jamie displayed a sensitivity to the civil liberties of our citizens that gave comfort to all of us who care deeply about the Constitution."
Before joining the Department of Justice, Gorelick served from May 1993 to April 1994 as General Counsel of the Department of Defense. As General Counsel, she supervised the government's second-largest "law firm," consisting of 10,000 lawyers.
She certainly did.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UPGRADING FEDERAL BUILDING SECURITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today made public a study of the vulnerability of federal office buildings to acts of terrorism and other forms of violence, prepared at the direction of the President after the April 19 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
The study proposes new minimum security standards for federal buildings, and recommends that each federal facility be upgraded to meet those standards to the extent feasible.
"We owe it to our federal workers, and to the citizens who visit federal offices every day, to take these sensible steps to protect their safety," said Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.
The survey concluded that typical federal facilities lack some of the elements needed to meet the new minimum security standards, recommended in light of the changed environment of heightened risk. The study noted that when many of the buildings were constructed, the potential risk of terrorist and similar violence was not as great as it is today, and that tight security was often seen as inconsistent with making the facility easily accessible to serve the public. In the last two months alone, 200 federal buildings have received bomb threats.
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