Task Force Chair: Arnaud de Borchgrave, Frank Cilluffo
Task Force Coordinator: Sharon L. Cardash

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) initiated an 18-month study to improve our understanding of Homeland Defense and chart a course for improving policy in this area. Cyber Threats and Information Security: Meeting the 21st Century Challenge was one of four reports developed out of the four working groups, each consisting of more than 20 federal, states, local, and private-sector officials. A senior advisory group composed of senators, representatives, governors, and former military and government officials provided guidance.

The rapid and ubiquitous spread of modern information has brought about considerable changes in the global environment, ranging from the speed of economic transactions to the nature of social interactions to the management of military operations in both peacetime and war. Governments, academic institutions, private corporations, armed forces, and individuals now share a common global infrastructure and benefit from increased connectivity. At the same time, the pervasiveness of the Internet has created significant personal, organizational, infrastructural dependencies that are not confined by national borders.

The capacity to produce, communication, and use information is affecting every area of national security, from the way we govern ourselves ("e-government") to the way we fight wars ("information warfare") to the way transnational criminal organizations increase in scope and power to the way activists and extremists mobilize support across borders. Yet security measures against cyber threats are insufficient throughout both government and the private sector. To counter the cyber threats of the future, the United States must develop a comprehensive response policy for thwarting all attacks on national infrastructures and assets - be they within or outside of U.S. borders. For this to happen, government must not only lead by example, but it must also provide specific incentives that will encourage the private sector to better protect its own systems. This report illuminates the problem ad lays out the first, essential, steps for defending the homeland against this new reality.

Cyber Threats of the Future Task Force

Grey Burkhart, Department of Defense
Robert Carpenter, Advanced Information Strategies
Guy Copeland, Computer Sciences Corporation
Anthony Cordesman, CSIS
Justin Cordesman, InterTech Technologies
Steven Crocker, Executive DSL
Ruth David, ANSER
Raymond Decker, General Accounting Office
Fred Demech, TRW
Dorothy Denning, Georgetown University
Sheila Dryden, Department of Defense
Seymour Goodman, Georgia Institute of Technology
Charles Herzfeld, Consultant
Paul Kurtz, National Security Council
Martha Madden, Consultant
Mark Esper, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
Robert Filippone, Office of Senator Bob Graham
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, National Security Council
Stephen Handelmann, Consultant
Jerome Hauer, Kroll Associates
Bruce Hoffman, RAND
Frank Hoffman, National Security Study Group
Keith Holterman, George Washington University
Edmund Hull, Department of State
Theodore Jerboe, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service
Brian Jenkins, Consultant
Robert Kadlec, National War College
David Kay, SAIC
Randall Larsen, ANSER
Bruce Lawlor US, Joint Forces Command
Joshua Lederberg, Rockefeller University
Scott Lillibridge, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Donald Lumpkins, Maryland Emergency Management Agency
Martha Madden, Consultant
John Magaw, Federal Emergency Management Agency
Paul Maniscalco, New York City Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services
Kirk McConnell, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Alan McCurry, Office of Senator Pat Roberts
Kenneth Myers, III, Office of Senator Richard Lugar
Nicholas Palarino, House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations
John Parachini, Monterey Institute of International Studies
H.K. Parke, Department of Defense
Paul Byron, Pattak The Byron Group
J. David Piposzar, Allegheny County Health Department
Daniel Poneman, Hogan & Hartson
Linnea Raine, Department of Energy
Timothy Sample, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Chris Seiple, The Institute for Global Engagement
Walter Sharp, Attorney
Suzanne Spaulding, National Commission on Terrorism
Clark Staten, Emergency Response and Research Institute
Kevin Tonat, National Disaster Medical System
Jonathan Tucker, Monterey Institute of International Studies
Bert Tussing, Army War College