DATE=1/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CYBERTERRORISM - L-ONLY
NUMBER=2-257879
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=

VOICED AT: 

INTRO: President Clinton says electronic attacks on U-
S computer systems are a serious and growing threat.  
He plans to beef up U-S defenses against cyber-
terrorism, and is trying to develop new tools and 
cyber soldiers for the effort.  V-O-A's Jim Randle 
reports, Mr. Clinton calls cyber-terrorism a menace to 
American security and prosperity. 

TEXT: The U-S Government's top computer security 
organization says the number of attacks on government 
and business computers in the United States has gone 
up nearly seven fold in the past eight years.

Pentagon experts report 80 to 100 attempts to break 
into military computer networks each day, and the 
number is growing.  There are many more such attacks 
on computers elsewhere in government and business.

President Clinton says the United States needs to 
develop many more highly skilled and educated workers 
to block these attacks, which are growing more and 
more sophisticated and dangerous.

            /// FIRST CLINTON ACT /// 

      We need to do more to bring people into the 
      field of computer security.  That's why I am 
      proposing a new program that will offer college 
      scholarships to students in the field of 
      computer security, in exchange for their public 
      service afterward.

            /// END ACT /// 

The president also plans to fund a new research 
facility that will focus on cyber tools and weapons.  
He hopes institute will attract the best minds in the 
computer industry.

            /// BEGIN OPT ///

Experts say the United States is a leader in computer 
technology and has put computers to work running key 
infrastructures from electric power and running water 
to air traffic control and banking. 

            /// 2ND CLINTON ACT - OPT ///
 
      Information technology has helped to create the 
      unprecedented prosperity we enjoy at the end of 
      the 20th century.

            /// END ACT /// 

But this dependence on computers also makes the U-S 
economy vulnerable to computer disruption caused by 
teenage hackers, industrial spies, or serious attacks 
by foreign governments.

            /// END OPT ///

Mr. Clinton is asking Congress to approve a 17 percent 
increase in cyber defense funds, which would raise the 
government's spending on such matters to about two 
billion dollars.  He pledged to work closely with 
Congress, industry and the public to craft ways to 
fight cyber attacks without slowing electronic 
commerce or infringing on civil liberties.  (Signed). 

NEB/JR/JO



07-Jan-2000 12:10 PM EDT (07-Jan-2000 1710 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.