What is the Federal Government Doing to Improve the State of Information Security?

The United States government sees a clear and present danger in cyber terrorism and cyber crime and is taking decisive action to improve the state of information security in the United States. The pieces to the overall plan include presidential directives and policies, legislative acts, executive agencies, special programs, and agreements with other nations. Some of the major themes are government-industry partnerships, cooperation with law enforcement abroad, Government sponsored research, developing a larger cadre of information technology professionals, empowering the individual, and protecting the right to privacy. Information security is crucial to protecting our economy and national infrastructure since most critical infrastructure sectors rely on data networks and computer systems for data input and communications. Indeed, many of these sectors are linked together by data networks, and a single hacker penetration could bring several of them down at once. The objective of this paper is to take a broad look at recent Government actions to improve the state of information security in the United States and prevent such problems.